On February 3, 2023, a freight train carrying vinyl chloride derailed along the Norfolk Southern Railway in East Palestine, Ohio, United States. Emergency crews conducted a controlled burn of the spill on the request of state officials, which released hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air. As a result, residents within a 1 mi (1.6 km) radius were evacuated, and an emergency response from agencies across three states was initiated. Background The derailed train was a Norfolk Southern freight train, which consisted of three locomotives, nine empty cars, and 141 loaded cars. The train was operating from the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis yard in Madison, Illinois, to Norfolk Southern's Conway Yard in Conway, Pennsylvania. Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) brakes In 2014, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act which required ECP brakes for "high-hazard flammable" trains.. The accident train was not equipped with ECP brakes...