Ohio train derailment just one of dozen rail accidents in U.S. since start of 2023: report

LONDON, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The serious train derailment in U.S. state of Ohio last month was just one of more than a dozen railway accidents taking place in the country since the beginning of this year, British newspaper The Independent has reported.

According to the report, before the toxic train derailment on Feb. 3 in the town of East Palestine, Ohio, the state had seen another derailment take place on Jan. 19 between the city of Trinway and Adam's Mill.

"It was the East Palestine incident that cast new light on America's under-reported railroad sector and the challenges it faces," said the report.

According to The Independent, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics has recorded 54,539 train derailments between 1990 and 2021, which was an average of 1,704 per year.

Rail experts argued that, to enhance rail company profits, railway safety measures were compromised and workforces were downsized, both of which have made the East Palestine derailment an "inevitable result," said the newspaper.