Fact check: Brake mandate reversed by Trump not a factor in East Palestine train derailment

The claim: Post implies Trump's repeal of train brake mandate caused Ohio derailment

A Feb. 23 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) shows an image of a black cloud of smoke emanating from East Palestine, Ohio. Two graphics associated with East Palestine are superimposed over the image, along with the text of a tweet from former President Donald Trump about eliminating unnecessary regulation.

"Legislation was passed under President Obama that made it a legal requirement for trains carrying hazardous flammable materials to have ECP brakes, but this was rescinded in 2017 by the Trump administration," reads the text included in the image.

Commentators connected Trump’s reversal of the brake mandate to the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine.

“But yet he shows up in Ohio like he’s some concerned leader" reads part of one comment. "When he’s the main cause of that whole mess. He’s the reason why ppl are suffering."

“And he returned to the scene of his crime...pitiful,” reads another comment.

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Our rating: Missing context

The implied claim here is wrong. The brake mandate reversed by Trump only applied to high-hazard flammable trains, and the Ohio train didn't have enough cars with flammable liquids to meet that regulatory standard. It would not have been required to have the newer brake system under the Obama-era rule.

Rule wouldn't have applied to East Palestine train

A train operated by Norfolk Southern was traveling to Pennsylvania on Feb. 3 when 38 rail cars derailed in East Palestine, igniting a fire and damaging an additional 12 cars, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. At least 11 of the cars that derailed contained hazardous materials.

But contrary to the post’s implication, an electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, or ECP, brake mandate rescinded under the Trump administration wouldn't have prevented the disaster. The system allows for the entirety of a train to brake simultaneously rather than railcar by railcar over a span of seconds.

That's because the 2015 Obama administration rule that trains must be equipped with ECP brakes only applied to certain “high-hazard flammable trains," as Paste BN previously reported. A high-hazard flammable train is defined by the Department of Transportation as carrying at least 20 consecutive cars or 30 interspersed cars loaded with flammable liquids such as crude oil.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a tweet that the derailed train in Ohio was classified as a mixed freight train, not a high-hazard flammable train, and therefore it would not have been subject to the since-rescinded rule.

"Some are saying the ECP (electronically controlled pneumatic) brake rule, if implemented, would’ve prevented this derailment. FALSE – here’s why," Homendy tweeted on Feb. 16. "The train that derailed in East Palestine was a MIXED FREIGHT TRAIN containing only 3 placarded Class 3 flammable liquids cars. This means even if the rule had gone into effect, this train wouldn't have had ECP brakes."

Ohio train derailment fact check: What's true and what's false?

The train also had five derailed tank cars of vinyl chloride, a flammable gas. Trains carrying flammable gases like vinyl chloride were excluded from the Obama-era definition of a high-hazard flammable train, against the NTSB's recommendation, as Paste BN reported.