I’m no consist expert and I’ve been in the cab of a locomotive all of two times, I work on the ground in signal, but I can still take a quick stab at this because I do know how to read the CFR on the subject and add that to what I already know as general operating procedures.
The train was moving at the allowable speed of under 50mph for a hazmat load in a non-HUTA zone, which is 40 if the material is being carried in older cars that don’t meet the new standards. 50 is a pretty general track speed for freight, and nearly all hazmat loads transit on PTC governed territory where even if the crew were knocked out, the train would not exceed that speed and would stop on its own before it crossed into an area it wasn’t supposed to be in.
Placement and separation within a consist is made to lessen the chance of two reactive chemicals from coming into contact with each other in the event of a derailment, ie don’t put a chlorine car right against an ammonia car, but AFAIK it doesn’t change anything with allowable speeds.
Bearings on rail cars burn up, often with little warning, hence why the Class 1s put a lot of money into monitoring them despite it not being federally mandated or regulated. That may change with this, we all know how much the government loves to knee jerk react, especially when the firm that builds the monitoring equipment gets some Congress critters in their pocket. Which brings me to the electric brakes rule which Obama put in place, and Trump withdrew. As always, follow the money.
What would the reaction be if DoT mandated automated braking be installed or retrofitted on all vehicles, on the individual owner’s dime? It would save a lot of lives, for the children and everything. Same shit with the trains, and the first questions we would be demanding answers to would be who was being paid off by who. Instead, it’s just everyone screaming at evil big rail and demanding the government do something. And trust me, while I love my job, I hate corporate, but I definitely hate big daddy government even more.
It was a terrible accident, it could have been prevented and I’m sure all the Class 1s have taken great note and are adapting their procedures as we bitch on the internet about it, but it had nothing to do with deregulation.
ETA: Here’s the CFR for your own reading, especially if you’re having difficulty falling asleep.
www.dailymail.co.uk 
