On March 16 the Washington Post published an article by John Shelton, Vice President for Public Policy at Advancing American Freedom. The article criticized Vice President JD Vance for supporting the so-called Railway Safety Act. Mr. Shelton began by describing the Trump Administration’s normal approach to artificial intelligence (AI) and innovation, which has been to rally behind AI’s ability to deliver large economic and social benefits. In an earlier speech, Vance described the promise of a new industrial revolution as being on par with the invention of the steam engine. However, at the same time, Vance warned against overregulation, which would deter innovators from taking the risks needed to make new discoveries, including large investments of time and money.
As Mr. Shelton points out, Vance’s support of AI seems incongruent with his current support of the proposed Railway Safety Act. Vance is one of the bill's major supporters even though it would increase regulatory burdens without having a positive effect on rail safety.
The origin of Vance’s support is a 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which Vance represented when he was a Senator. Yet the bill’s provisions have little to do with derailments. One of the most controversial provisions would require most trains to have at least two employees at all times. However, the train in East Palestine had three crew and none of them could have prevented the disaster. In fact, there is no evidence that crews of one are inherently less safe than crews of two.
The railroads have a long history of steady improvements in safety, going from 8,205 accidents in 1980 to 1,818 in 2023, even as the amount of rail freight intermodal traffic increased from under 9 million containers in 2000 to over 13 million in 2020. This effort has mainly focused on collecting data on train operations, processing it to detect safety concerns, and issuing an automated response to any safety threats, often without waiting for a human action. Over time, this process has led to better data, faster processing, and more accurate responses than humans can deliver. Much of this safety progress has been at the initiative of the railroads themselves rather than the Federal Railway Administration. Now, AI promises to supercharge this process leading to even further safety improvements.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “[a] foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” So is foolish inconsistency. Vice-President Vance’s support of the Rail Safety Act requires another look.
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