EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – Residents of an eastern Ohio village will learn more about the burning wreck of a Norfolk Southern freight train last year that disrupted their lives as another hearing began Tuesday in their hometown, with the National Transportation Safety Board set to discuss the ongoing investigation and issue recommendations to prevent future disasters.
Dozens of freight cars derailed on February 3, 2023, on the outskirts of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania border, including 11 carrying hazardous materials. Residents were evacuated as fears grew about a potential explosion and authorities intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke into the air despite potential health effects.
O NTSB said Early on, an overheated bearing in one of the cars that was not detected in time by track sensors probably caused the accident. Investigative hearings have since highlighted other possible contributors, including widespread rail job cuts and rushed inspections. Investigators also looked into why authorities chose open deliberately vinyl chloride cars and burn this key ingredient to make PVC pipes.
A key point on Tuesday will be the expected release of the NTSB’s recommendations for safety improvements. Although the NTSB’s recommendations are not binding, it is possible that Congress may be willing to implement some of them because of the emphasis placed on railroad safety by the accident.
More than a year ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by two Ohio senators proposed a package of reforms, including requiring two-person crews and establishing standards for inspections and detectors that help prevent derailments. But that account frozen in the Senate under resistance from Republicans and the railroads. House GOP leaders said they did not want to consider new rail safety regulations until the NTSB’s final report was released.
With limited success, federal regulators also pressed the railroads to make changes, such as signing an agreement anonymous government hotline to report security concerns. And the industry responded to the accident by promising to install more track detectors, review how they are used and help rescuers improve the handling of derailments with more training and better access to cargo information.
For his part, the CEO of Norfolk Southern promised to “make things right” in East Palestine with more than $100 million in aid to residents and the community. CEOAlan Shaw it also hired a consultant from the nuclear power industry to recommend changes and tried to work with labor. Still, critics said Norfolk Southern was often content in the past to do only the minimum required for safety and workers did not report major changes in daily operations.
But after the derailment, all major freight railroads pledged to work to improve security adding hundreds of trackside sensors to help detect problems like overheating bearings and reevaluating how they analyze data from those detectors. The trade group Association of American Railroads said the industry will review the NTSB report and look for additional ways to improve safety. But so far the industry’s efforts have not resulted in a significant increase in its safety record in Federal Railroad Administration statistics.
Earlier this year, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told Congress that the agency’s investigation determined that the controversial venting and burning operation that prompted evacuations and sent a huge plume of black smoke over the small town was not necessary. Experts from the company that made the vinyl chloride, OxyVinyls, testified at the NTSB hearings that they were certain that a feared chemical reaction was not taking place that could have caused those tank cars to explode.
But Ohio’s governor, first responders and hazardous materials experts who made that decision said the information they had that day made them believe an explosion was likely imminent, making burning their best option despite the risks of releasing cancer-causing dioxins in the area. .
The chemical maker has declined to comment publicly on the situation, which is already the subject of lawsuits beyond what its experts testified last spring.
South Norfolk announced last week which will conduct an industry-wide examination of how to improve the way ventilation and flaring decisions are made in future derailments. This was part of his agreement with the federal government.
The NTSB also looked into the difficulties of rescuers who didn’t know exactly what was on the train after 38 cars jumped off the tracks, many spilling their contents and catching fire.
Federal authorities have finalized a new rule monday this will require railroads to inform first responders about what is on the train immediately after a derailment. The industry says more than two million first responders now have immediate access to this information through an AskRail app that allows them to query the load of any train.
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Funk contributed to this story from Omaha, Nebraska, and Krisher from Detroit.
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