For decades, the Justice Department and FTC have taken the lead on competition issues, but a Presidential executive order called on industry regulators to engage in independent oversight of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.

The new network could draw traffic away from U.S. West Coast ports to gateways in Canada and Mexico, and tens of thousands of shipments away from trucks, an environmental selling point for the combination.

“The fallout from this highly preventable accident is going to reverberate through Ohio for many years to come,” said Attorney General Dave Yost.

Norfolk Southern’s decision to call for the burning of five derailed train cars was a consequence of poor communication by the railroad, a local emergency management official told a Senate panel March 9.

The company said March 6 that it’s evaluating the distance between hot-bearing detectors, and will add more where necessary.

A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in west central Ohio over the weekend. Authorities announced the wreck was not hazardous.

Following a period of seesawing freight rates and persistent service failures, ocean carriers and shippers are struggling to achieve some measure of equilibrium.

The railroad industry has defended the devices, saying they have helped reduce accidents. Deploying better monitoring equipment to the more than 1.6 million freight cars in North America would cost huge sums.

Adam Gomez, a lawyer for East Palestine residents, said in a court filing that it was “common sense” to keep the wreckage where it is for now.

Workers and union officials cited the Norfolk Southern Railway derailment in early February as a glaring example of why safety reforms to the industry need to be made.