#department of transport

[mostlysignssomeportents]

After Ohio rail disaster, Buttigieg is silent on restoring the safety standards Trump repealed

When a freight train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, bursting into flame and sending up clouds of poisonous vinyl chloride smoke and gas, our immediate concerns were for the people in harm’s way and the train crew:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/train-derailment-fire-palestine-ohio.html

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

But those immediate concerns were soon joined by a broader set of worries: that the entire rail industry presented a systematic danger, and the Ohio derailment was a symptom of a much deeper pathology that endangered anyone who lives near one of the rail corridors that crisscross America.

The rail industry is the poster child for corporate power, and rail barons were among the first targets of Gilded Age trustbusters who saw the rail monopolies as a threat to the prosperity and wellbeing of Americans, as well as the integrity of the American political system itself.

40 years of neoliberal “consumer welfare” antitrust — starting with Reagan and continuing through every administration since — has seen the American rail sector achieve levels of concentration that meet and exceed the corrupt, untenable degree of the late 19th century.

Like the original rail barons, the current crop (including the self-styled cuddly billionaire Warren Buffett), have gutted rail investment, skirted on safety, maimed and abused their workforce, smashed their unions, and placed the entire US supply chain in a state of brittle precarity:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/04/up-your-nose/#rail-barons

Like all monopolists, the rail industry has been able to capture its regulators, trampling evidence-based policy and replacing it with rules that benefit shareholders at the expense of the public, labor, and customers.

https://doctorow.medium.com/regulatory-capture-59b2013e2526

This regulatory capture is an inevitable consequence of market concentration. When an industry is composed of dozens of small- and medium-sized firms, they are unable to converge on a single story about which rules regulators should favor them with: some of those companies will want things the others don’t, and each will vie to produce evidence disconfirming the others’ claims.

But when an industry dwindles to a handful of cozy giants whose C-suites are stuffed with company-hopping executives who’ve done time at every major company in the sector, they converge on a single fairy tale about the best way to regulate their industry, and convert their regulators’ truth-seeking exercises into rigged auctions that they handily win:

https://locusmag.com/2022/03/cory-doctorow-vertically-challenged/

That’s what happened during the Trump years, when rail lobbyists secured the repeal of a long-overdue, hard-won safety regulation that would have required rail companies to replace the Civil-War-era brakes on their rolling stock with modern electronically controlled pneumatic brakes (ECPs):

https://jacobin.com/2023/02/rail-companies-safety-rules-ohio-derailment-brake-sytems-regulations

The repeal cost millions in lobbying dollars, but it was worth it. Shortly after the ECP rule was scrapped, Norfolk Southern handed millions in bonuses to its execs and did billions in stock buybacks, while laying offf thousands of workers:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/25/norfolk-southern-implements-massive-buyback-progra.aspx

Elections, we’re told, have consequences. After Biden won the 2020 presidential election, he made a string of excellent appointments — people like FTC chair Lina Khan, who hit the ground running with detailed plans for making sweeping, consequential changes that would blunt corporate power, reverse-Trump era abuses, and correct the dysfunctions that created a political base for Trump:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

But other Biden appointees arrive in office with much less ambition. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has spent his tenure as King Log, failing to take action on spiraling airline cancellations, confining his major enforcement action to fining foreign airlines while ignoring the out-of-control abuses of America’s domestic carriers, except for the also-ran airline Frontier, which accounts for less than 2% of domestic travel:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/16/for-petes-sake/#unfair-and-deceptive

There are striking similarities between the structural defects in the airlines and the rail companies: both are highly concentrated sectors who have laid off senior staff, attacked unions, and blown billions in public money on stock buybacks and executive bonuses, even as their service degraded.

Both industries have been sharply criticized by experts and industry veterans, who’ve called for specific regulation. In the case of the airlines, SWA pilots and flight attendants had sounded the alarm about antiquated scheduling systems; for the rail companies, it’s experts like Grady Cothen, formerly a top safety expert at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), who told Congress that without action on braking systems, “[there] will be more derailments, more releases of hazardous materials, more communities impacted”:

https://www.congress.gov/event/117th-congress/house-event/LC69424/text?s=1&r=9

Despite these warnings, and despite the near-misses and smaller disasters that led up to the 100-foot-tall fireball over Ohio, Buttigieg’s DOT has not moved to reinstate the Obama-era brake safety rule, deferring to the monopoly rail owners self-serving claim that there is no need for such a move:

https://jacobin.com/2023/02/department-of-transportation-train-brake-regulation-ohio-derailment/

Indeed, the FRA is currently considering a rule that would further weaken braking rules, reducing obligations to inspect, test and certify braking systems:

https://www.regulations.gov/document/FRA-2019-0072-0005

The rail labor unions — the best source of independent expertise on the daily operation of the freight system — say that this would be a disaster: “Following through with a final rule would only deliver yet another financial windfall to rail carriers by eliminating inspections, testing and repairs, and deferring routine maintenance”:

https://www.goiam.org/news/territories/tcu-union/carmen-division-tcu/rail-labor-files-joint-comments-on-fras-nprm-2/

Serving as Transportation Secretary to the President of the United States of America makes you one of the most powerful people in the history of the human race. The Secretary’s powers, while not unlimited, are extensive. The American people need a DoT that works for them, not one that weakens safety rules:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

Image: Gage Skidmore (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pete_Buttigieg_January_2020.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

James St John (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/27110172823/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

This week (Feb 13–17), I’ll be in Australia, touring my book Chokepoint Capitalism with my co-author, Rebecca Giblin. We’re doing a remote event for NZ tomorrow (Feb 13). Next are Melbourne (Feb 14), Sydney (Feb 15) and Canberra (Feb 16/17). More tickets just released for Sydney!

[Image ID: A locomotive steaming away from a nuclear explosion. The face of the logo has been replaced with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's, in the style of Thomas the Tank Engine.]

[reasonsforhope]

"This week, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a new rule requiring airlines to make bathrooms more accessible for disabled people. All new single-aisle aircraft will be fitted with fully-accessible lavatories.

Most flights inside the United States are single-aisle and as technology has improved, they are used more frequently for long flights, including coast-to-coast trips that can last as long as six hours. Double-aisle plans are already subject to the regulation but are primarily used for international flights.

Out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced the new regulations, saying, “Traveling can be stressful enough without worrying about being able to access a restroom; yet today, millions of wheelchair users are forced to choose between dehydrating themselves before boarding a plane or avoiding air travel altogether.” ...

The secretary has made it a priority to improve service on airlines during his tenure. In 2022, six airlines were forced to pay millions of dollars in refunds to hundreds of thousands of customers and were also fined millions for causing the issues. The department’s firm stance on the side of customers has continued through this year after multiple companies have had meltdowns, stranding thousands of travelers.

All planes delivered to airlines starting in 2026 must include several upgrades. Planes already in service will not need to be retrofitted unless the plane is renovated.

“These aircraft must have at least one lavatory of sufficient size to permit a passenger with a disability (with the help of an assistant, if necessary) to approach, enter, and maneuver within the aircraft lavatory, to use all lavatory facilities, and leave by means of the aircraft’s onboard wheelchair if necessary,” the DOT said in a statement.

Accessible faucets and controls, grab bars, accessible call buttons and door locks, minimum obstruction to the passage of an onboard wheelchair, and an available visual barrier for privacy are also required upgrades."

-via LGBTQ Nation, July 28, 2023

Wayyyyyyy fucking overdue but I'll take it!! Also, very nice curb cut effect: We all get to be less miserable on airplanes, and older people don't have to worry as much about airplane bathroom fall risks.

[generallemarc]

Buttigieg and the current air travel issues

Apparently he went on Face the Nation on Sunday to basically apologize for all the current travel issues. Now, I'm normally never one to ignore an opportunity to criticize Sleepy Joe's administration, but...how exactly is this the DoT's fault? Most of these cancellations and direct delays(as in, delays caused by some issue at the airport/ with the plane , and not because something else got delayed and now they're delayed too) are coming from severe weather, which nobody controls(unless you're Lauren Boebert in which case the Jews control it with their laser beams) and if an airline does a poor job at managing their now-delayed passengers, that's their fault as a private company. Yeah, the DoT is the legal motivator that ensures risky flights aren't sent out into bad weather, but there are very few people who see that as a problem. So what's he apologizing for? Aside from not getting in the way of airlines trying to deal with all these traffic snarls, what can they even do at all?

[insidecroydon]

Croydon has 20% more speeding drivers than next worst area

Has anyone seen Suella Braverman behind the wheel of her car going down the Purley Way or over the Flyover recently? What do points make?: as a lawyer and the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman is supposed to uphold the law Only if the Home Secretary was clocked speeding in Croydon, she would be far from alone, as official figures published over the weekend show that one postcode in this borough…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

On Friday night, Jacksonville residents took to the Main Street Bridge to celebrate Pride Month. Just weeks prior, Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration and the Florida Department of Transportation issued an edict banning rainbow-colored lighting on bridges during Pride Month, mandating that all such lighting be replaced with red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. Residents, however, were undeterred. They carried flashlights and rainbow gels, took their positions, and proceeded to light up the bridge themselves. Weeks ago, Manatee County Commission Chairman Mike Rahn objected to Pride lighting on bridges in Florida. Many bridges in the state, such as the Skyway Bridge in Tampa and the Acosta Bridge in Jacksonville, have been lit up in rainbow colors in previous years. This year, however, Rahn attempted to stop such lights from going up on the Skyway Bridge, formally objecting to the lighting. He expressed that the decision did not lie with him, passing the blame to Governor DeSantis. Rahn stated, “I do not have the authority to override the governor of the state of Florida. However, in my opinion, the lighting of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is an FDOT matter and should not be left to the individual counties.”

In response, Jared Perdue of the Florida Department of Transportation declared that this year, bridges would be lit up in red, white, and blue all summer. This decision bars Pride lighting, Juneteenth lighting, and many other special lighting days on bridges in Florida. Perdue stated in a tweet, “As Floridians prepare for Freedom Summer, Florida's bridges will follow suit, illuminating in red, white, and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day! Thanks to the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida continues to be the freest state in the nation.” The use of the word "freedom" while taking away the choice to light up bridges for Pride Month struck Matthew McCallister, who organized the bridge lighting event on Friday night, as "Orwellian." In an interview with News 4 Jax, McCallister responded to the rainbow Pride light ban, saying, “The timing of that is really strange. The idea that we are going to celebrate freedom by giving you absolutely no choices seems Orwellian, honestly.”

Really happy to hear that some Florida cities told Ron DeSantis “up yours” to his anti-LGBTQ+ ways. 🏳️‍🌈

[fucxingcuties]

MOO DENG IS EVERYWHERE!!!

[narwhalsarefalling]

i got a seizure from watching Avatar 2 and now I can’t drive for six months

[aryburn-trains]

New York City, NY April 13, 1986

[thescarletnargacuga]

RACEWAY AU JAX

This walking DOT violation doesn't care about winning. There's no point. He's in it for the mayhem. The more crashes he causes, the more entertained he is. Especially when the other racers fight back.

[20th-century-railroading]

Disco Stripes

New Jersey Transit EMD E8A 4334 (ex-Southern Railway) sits forlornly out back of the Elizabethport shop. It's wearing an odd white paint job with classic NJT "disco stripes".

Elizabethport, New Jersey November 1983

[hezigler]

Pete Buttigieg Wants to Make America Not Suck... Again?

Hasan Minhaj is a comedian/journalist, possibly second only to John Stewart. This interview with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigiege is both informative and entertaining. An outstanding piece of true edutainment.

[kply-industries]

The New KPLY rail sedan. Because the Department of Transportation isn't the boss of us.

[umbraastaff]

Six months before departure, I'm standing guard in the Perihelion's hangar.

They've improved security around the Light. Davenport insisted I wasn't left on sole guard duty, but I don't think they've hired more SecUnits either. They're just watching who passes through campus buildings with much more scrutiny, and I have to configure my input filters so SecSystem doesn't serve me a high-urgency ping any time someone goes through a door.

Everywhere is boring most of the time, but the ship's hangar is probably the least bad. The turae who pass through to work on the ship mostly don't bother or look at me, and I can secretly watch media with ease.

The ship's computer doesn't use words, but I'm able to understand it better and quicker than any tura can. As a SecUnit, I'm a bot-human construct -- I was created to interface with bot systems while having organic intelligence. The ship doesn't seem to get a lot of complex concepts beyond those related to its own function, which is the norm for a bot pilot.

Trapped In Active Depart, Chapter 0.3

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

I made the original of this one a few years ago; but I needed to go back and edit it.

[sayxit]

Flying through the storm

Went through this a couple times and it’s the best