My guess is that hot box detector technology (it senses wheelbearing temp, the cause of a lot of derailments) got a whole lot better untill the early to mid-2000s when “precision railroading” came into vouge. This basically means, cut jobs and therefore maintenance untill shit breaks, people and equipment to maximize profits. That Ohio car was hot at the last couple of detectors it passed. Their stated safety culture was a farce as they punished late trains instead of rewarding when overheated bearings were found. Case in point, walking SLOWLY back to the end of the train to check a hot bearing after failing a detector pass by, which would allow it cool off enough that it “passed” the in person inspection. Cutting that failed car out took more time then the slow walk and they would be punished for a late train. When you only reward ontime trains what the fuck do you think happens.

That’s the power of media.

You could argue it was a downward trend until 2017 or so followed by an increase since then. I don’t know how well that might match with any changes in legislation though…

Media always promotes hype without regard to the facts.