After spate of wrecks, US Congress takes new view of rail agency

Washington

AFTER a string of deadly train crashes, a pair of angry US senators stood in New York's Grand Central Terminal four months ago to denounce the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) as a "lawless agency, a rogue agency", too cozy with the railroads it regulates and more interested in "cutting corners" for them than protecting the public.

Fast forward to the past two months, when photos of rail cars strewn akimbo beside tracks have rivalled mountains of snow in Boston for play in the newspapers and on television. And the blowback from Congress on the railroad agency's performance?