Another Norfolk Southern train derails in Springfield, Ohio after toxic East Palestine spill.

A Norfolk Southern cargo train derailed in Ohio on Saturday evening, one month after the derailment of another company train carrying hazardous materials sparked concerns about the safety of those nearby.

The Saturday incident took place near the town of Springfield, Ohio, as the 212-car train traveled south, a company spokesperson said. About 20 cars from the train, which did not have passengers on board, derailed by State Route 41 near the Clark County Fairgrounds, leading officials to advise locals within 1,000 feet of the scene to shelter in place. The derailment also caused more than 1,500 residents to temporarily lose power.

This is, of course, anything but unexpected, if we remember what the train tracks look like over there, and they obviously aren’t repairing them, so if the trains somehow managed to limp along in the past, and the condition degraded further with time and use, it’s obvious that at some point derailment would become the default option.

That’s privatisation for you – it’s unprofitable for the company owning the tracks to invest in repairs, so they milk it for as long as possible, bribe the politicians to leave them alone because that’s cheaper than repairs, and then liquidate the business, split the money between the owners and have someone else deal with the unprofitable business of repairing infrastructure, someone like the state, and then bribe the politicians again to let you “privatise” the infrastructure, promising you’ll do a much better job, because businesses are so much more efficient at managing assets.

The problem is, the businesses are very efficient at milking assets for profit, but they are very inefficient when you need to make large investments in things that will provide long-term benefits to the people at very moderate returns over the decades and centuries. Businesses prefer to make lots of money fast, and in this case we can see what it looks like – neglect, corruption, harm.