President Joe Biden has fired the longtime U.S. Railroad Retirement Board inspector general on grounds of creating a hostile work environment, the White House confirmed to the Washington Examiner.

Martin Dickman had been in the position since October 1994, when he was confirmed by the Senate under the Clinton administration, but he had been under investigation by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency since January 2023.

Biden was presented with the findings of that report and subsequently fired Dickman for creating a toxic work environment.

When Californians were first pitched, in 2008, on the idea of a high-speed rail line connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles, the price tag was an estimated $33 billion—and about 75 percent of those costs would come from federal taxpayers or private sources, the Los Angeles Times editorial board assured its readers at the time.

Ukraine's domestic spy agency has detonated explosives on a Russian railway line deep in Siberia, the second attack this week on military supply routes in the area, a Ukrainian source told Reuters on Friday.

The incidents appear to show Kyiv's readiness and ability to conduct sabotage attacks deep inside Russia and disrupt Russian logistics far from the front lines of Moscow's 21-month-old war in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden and his allies on Saturday announced plans to build a rail and shipping corridor linking India with the Middle East and Europe, an ambitious project aimed at fostering economic growth and political cooperation.

"This is a big deal," said Biden. "This is a really big deal."

The National Transportation Safety Board will start taking sworn testimony Thursday as part of its probe into the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The agency is holding an investigative hearing on Thursday and Friday in East Palestine, where a Norfolk Southern Railway train carrying toxic chemicals derailed on Feb. 3, resulting in the release of hazardous materials into the air, soil and creeks in the area.

A railway reform bill championed by freshman Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) is winning over high-profile support from strange political bedfellows as it heads into committee on Wednesday.

In the world of railroading, keeping the trains moving is paramount, and Norfolk Southern Corp. has little tolerance for late departures.

Supervisors can be penalized for trains that are ready to leave but instead sit in rail yards, according to current and former employees of the Atlanta-based railroad. Train inspection time frames are tight. Employees who seek more-stringent reviews of rail equipment or slow down transport can face discipline.

The CEO of Norfolk Southern, the rail company responsible for the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, has agreed to appear before a Senate committee next week.

Alan Shaw will appear before the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee during a March 9 hearing.

The Biden administration on Friday defended its response to a Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio that caused a fire and sent a cloud of smoke over the town, saying it was sending more federal resources.