> I'ma M'gaga and some other clowns here at AP are as well informed on the Norfolk Southern wreck as Booty-Judge and Creepy Uncle Joe. All parties concerned talk a good game but they don't know which way is up.

It's all rather simple: a car experienced a wheel and/or axle bearing failure, and derailed, causing other cars to derail, some of which caught on fire. What caused all the spectacular flames and smoke is the deliberate burning of flammables which was intended to lessen the chances of explosions and the saturation of the ground by the flammable/hazmat liquids.

What remains to be determined is what lead to the failure. As for NS operating practices (PSR number of trackside detectors and their intervals, etc.), these are subject to existing regulations. The creation of regulations (and laws for that matter) is a purely reactive process: to correct a situation in hopes of preventing recurrence. Neither the Prez nor the DOT (FRA) has any authority to impose a regulation which has not been promulgated after running the gamut of the regulation creation process. They can issue emergency orders, but these are only temporary in nature.

What Trump did was arrange for the canceling of the promulgation process regarding new regulations on "improved, modern brake systems" for hazmat cars.

The first thing is to be prepared to wait 2 years for the NTSB's report.