Is Norfolk Southern ‘making it right’ after Ohio derailment? New lawsuit adds to doubts

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The schools’ center, with an estimated price tag of $30 million, was meant to offer health and wellness care and job training for students, the lawsuit said. Norfolk Southern even hired an architect and construction firm to design it, but the project stalled last year.

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Rook said the wellness center was supposed to be the centerpiece of Norfolk Southern’s commitment to fixing the mess. “People were very excited, still are, about the potential of it,” he said.

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Norfolk Southern says it remains committed

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The railroad insists there has been no change in its commitments. The derailment became the worst North American rail disaster in a decade after the officials blew open the vinyl chloride tanks, forcing evacuations as the plastic ingredient burned, generating new chemicals that later fell to the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board found the venting was unnecessary.

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Norfolk Southern maintains its www.nsmakingitright.com website, based on the phrase former CEO Alan Shaw repeated in testimony to Congress and in community meetings and interviews. Shaw was fired last fall for having an inappropriate consensual relationship with a railroad executive.

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“From the outset, we have been clear about our commitment to do right by the community in East Palestine. We remain focused on taking meaningful action that aligns with community priorities,” a railroad statement said.

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Current CEO Mark George said after taking over that Norfolk Southern will follow through on all its promises, and he’s visited East Palestine several times.

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Lingering frustrations

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But residents like Misti Allison say it doesn’t feel like “making it right” when the railroad refuses to pay for cost overruns beyond its $25 million pledge to the park project. She said people are also mourning the loss of the training center for first responders, which would have brought jobs to town and helped firefighters throughout the region prepare to handle rail disasters.

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“Now that Alan Shaw is gone and there is a new CEO in place, all the board cares about is getting those shares as high as possible and to be able to make it right for their shareholders,” Allison said. “And if the East Palestine community is a casualty in that, then so be it. This is yet another example of putting profits over people.”

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Most of the class-action payments remain on hold because of appeals, adding to frustration in the village. Some personal injury payments have been trickling out, but many residents have complained about the amounts. The court system is the reason for those payment delays, but many blame the railroad nevertheless.

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The village’s leaders are trying to build on the positives, said Barb Kliner, a retired chief financial officer for a different school district, but she said “the feeling among the people that I associate with and the older folks in town is just kind of disappointment.”

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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

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