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Here in the US, the rail system is privately owned and barely maintained. Employees responsible for identifying problems with sections of rail are regularly intimidated and fired for pointing out maintenance issues that could (and do) cause derailments.
In perfect world, we would have high speed rail across the US and even regionally, but that is not the world we live in.
There was that Big News Derailment a while back - but what they didn't bother telling us at the time was that there are derailments on like a daily basis. It's incredibly common. They're not always hugely toxic, but is that required for us to care?
There was a derailment less than a 1/4 mile from my parents house about 30 years ago. Very low speed derailment. Still came off the rails. Was crazy to see up close, and it was there for at least 6 months to a year.