---
title: "Journalism Investigation by UMD, Partners Reveals Lax Railroad Safety, Oversight of Hazardous Materials Transportation"
date: 2025-08-14T13:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/journalism-investigation-by-umd-partners-reveals-lax-railroad-safety-transportation-of-hazardous-materials"
section: Articles
---
# Journalism Investigation by UMD, Partners Reveals Lax Railroad Safety, Oversight of Hazardous Materials Transportation

*August 14, 2025* — by [Philip Merrill College of Journalism Staff](/author/philip-merrill-college-of-journalism)


> ‘Off the Rails’ Series of Stories With Media, Other Universities to Be Published in Nationwide Outlets

*IMG 0122 1920x1080 — After a railroad bridge collapse in Corvallis, Oregon, on Jan. 4, that dropped two rail cars into the Marys River, cleanup crews vacuum out fertilizer from the rail cars before they can be lifted and removed by crane. A new series of media stories developed in part by UMD's Howard Center for Investigative Journalism shows the consequences of the lack of transparency in the North American 140,000-mile freight rail network.*

Since the 2023 derailment of 53 railway cars in East Palestine, Ohio, led to an explosion and fire of toxic chemicals, efforts to expand the regulation of trains carrying highly hazardous materials have stalled in Congress and current safety recommendations have been ignored, according to a new investigation from the University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and academic and media partners.

The investigation, which news outlets in the U.S. and Canada began publishing this month, found a train derails and spills at least 1,000 gallons of hazardous material in the U.S. about once every two months. Nearly half of those derailments resulted in evacuations; since 2015, a quarter resulted in a fire or explosion.

The team of journalists also found railroad bridge safety across the U.S. is severely compromised by minimal federal and state oversight, and local emergency responders may be ill-equipped to handle derailments of trains carrying hazardous material.


*tank car with Class 2 hazardous material placard — A tank car on the railway tracks in Blaine, Washington, on March 3 bears a Class 2 hazardous material placard.*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Journalism](https://today.umd.edu/topic/journalism), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [Philip Merrill College of Journalism](https://today.umd.edu/topic/philip-merrill-college-journalism)