Norfolk Southern says it still expects site restoration in East Palestine to be “substantially complete by early/mid June.”

This despite additional monitoring wells being installed as recently as the end of March, and sediment and surface water monitoring that continues to show evidence of the catastrophic derailment that occurred more than two years ago.

However infuriating the progress of Norfolk Southern’s effort to “make it right” may be, though, the progress being made in Congress is even more frustrating.

On the two-year anniversary of the derailment on Feb. 3, Vice President JD Vance joined other officials in continuing to demand action.

At the time, he said “I think that we can say with confidence that the president shares my view that we need common sense rail safety, and yes that is something we are going to work on over the next couple years.”

To that end, on Feb. 4, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, reintroduced the RAIL (Reducing Accidents in Locomotives) Act, “To enhance safety requirements for trains transporting hazardous materials, and for other purposes.”

Yet, despite the broad, bi-partisan interest in improving rail safety, there has been no action on the measure since Feb. 4.

What grip must the rail industry have on our elected officials that such support across the board goes nowhere?