This has become, pardon the expression, a slow-moving train wreck in terms of PR and more importantly, on-the-ground-response from government agencies.

The secretary of transportation took pains to downplay its impact, going so far as to take weeks to address the issue officially and more weeks to go and personally take a look at the situation. Industry has been as ham-fisted as well -but that's almost understandable given the conflict of interest. But still, they should have give it the seriousness it deserves.

Unintentionally, Pete underlined the lackadaisical attitude when he said, paraphrasing here, hey, no biggie, derailments happen over 2.5 x day. So either the gov is woefully derelict in its duties or... he was trying to minimize the scope of an actual serious incident.

I hope what comes out of this is an investigatory commission who will make recommendations to minimize the toxic effect of accidents that will be followed up with actual new regulation.