Cleanup work continues on parts of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in eastern Palestine, Ohio, February 9, 2023.
Gene J. Puskar | AP
South Norfolk superiors failed to handle the engineer’s concerns before a train laden with toxic chemicals derailed in February in eastern Palestine, Ohio, in accordance with to preliminary findings published on Thursday National Transportation Safety Board investigation.
In line with the NTSB, the day before the train derailed, an engineer from Decatur, Illinois, expressed concern about the size of the train to the station manager. But the engineer told the agency he had been told, “Well, that is what they need,” the findings showed.
“In case you talk over with the manager, they said this train is 100% legal. For my part, you recognize, you may have 32% weight at the headend. 20% in the middle and 40% in the back of the brow. So, for me, that is why we reported it to the yard manager, and as I said, that is what they need,” a Decatur engineer said.
Norfolk Southern responded by saying that the Federal Railroad Administration had did not specify regulatory requirements for train configuration and that the train complied with internal train configuration rules at the time of the East Palestine derailment.
“Every accident is a learning opportunity. We’re working with the work management and our craft employees to extend safety, we’ve got brought in an external consultant in email.
The NTSB published its findings before it began a two-day trial on Thursday about the derailment. The hearing is meant to debate pre-rescue preparedness, the decision-making process for venting and burning vinyl chloride tankers, and investigating failure modes of freight automobile bearings and shoulder detection systems.
On February 3, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed, releasing toxic chemicals into the environment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has pledged support for East Palestine residents in Ohio, though critics say he hasn’t gone far enough.
A duration of three minutes to 3 minutes and 45 seconds is sufficient for maintenance personnel to examine the automobile, the Transportation Communications Association said in a separate NTSB statement. But the union said Norfolk Southern has cut the average inspection time to about one minute consistent with the company’s latest train schedule strategies, which TCU says is insufficient to comprehensively inspect each train.
The company responded that there was no policy limiting the time for automobile inspections.
Norfolk Southern made one other exception to the union’s allegation, saying that the current average automobile inspection time is around two minutes. The company said that is one minute longer than the average set by skilled railroad employees performing the same inspection and offered as a guide for crews.
“The claim that NS has ‘shortened’ the standard automobile inspection time since PSR was implemented will not be accurate. What we’ve got done is documented and standardized on what a correct inspection looks like and the time it should take a certified railwayman to finish this inspection,” Spielmaker said.