Love them or hate them: the New York Times and other media have revealed how much Norfolk Southern cared about profits and how little the railroad cared about safety. Or about the people along their routes.

Last month, for example, CEO Alan H. Shaw told Norfolk Southern’s shareholders that their service was “at the best it’s been in more than two years.” About a week later, one of its trains derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing toxic chemicals and spreading fear in the town. Then, on Thursday, another of its trains derailed near Detroit.

As a matter of fact, over the past ten years, incidents involving Norfolk Southern and its transporting of hazardous materials skyrocketed nearly six fold. The Daily Mail reported that in 2012, Federal Railroad Administration showed that 105 cars carrying noxious materials were involved in accidents. By 2022 that number had jumped to 654 cars.

However, not every railroad has experienced the same rise in accidents as Norfolk Southern. In fact, over the same time period, BNSF — the largest railroad in the US — saw a decrease in damaged hazmat cars. So did Union Pacific, the second largest.