In a victory for rail safety, a new federal rule has been finalized, which will require major freight railroads to maintain two-person crews on most routes. It is wonderful news. But lest anyone become too encouraged that Congress has finally gotten itself on track on rail safety reform proposed after the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, this new rule was first proposed during the Obama administration.

Once the new rule was announced, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reminded us that a country like ours should not be satisfied with the average of nearly three derailments per day we experience now.

“When good safety rules have been put in place over the years, especially after high-profile incidents, we see derailments come down on mainline tracks. But as attention faded on those incidents, the railroad industry lobby was consistently able to weaken or delay important safety provisions,” Buttigieg said.

And so, it took this long to solidify a common-sense rule (against which the railroad industry is still arguing, by the way).

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and others continue working to pass a rail safety bill that was drafted in response to last year’s East Palestine incident. (That disaster was not the result of a too-small crew).

It is unconscionable that politicians would let themselves be swayed by their “friends” in the railroad industry. Railroad executives appear to value the ability to keep clean-up and restoration costs after derailments as simply part of doing business, rather than being willing to swap that for the cost of improved safety protocols across the board.

Our communities — and the railroads’ own employees — deserve better than that. Members of Congress and agency rulemakers must stop dragging their feet on continued railroad reforms.