Rail Companies Blocked Safety Rules Before Ohio Derailment - LeverNews

[GGoss]

Rail Companies Blocked Safety Rules Before Ohio Derailment - LeverNews

Before this weekend’s fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment prompted emergency evacuations in Ohio, the company helped kill a federal safety rule aimed at upgrading the rail industry’s Civil War-era braking systems, according to documents reviewed by The Lever.

Though the company’s 150-car train in Ohio reportedly burst into 100-foot flames upon derailing — and was transporting materials that triggered a fireball when they were released and incinerated — it was not being regulated as a “high-hazard flammable train,” federal officials told The Lever.

Documents show that when current transportation safety rules were first created, a federal agency sided with industry lobbyists and limited regulations governing the transport of hazardous compounds. The decision effectively exempted many trains hauling dangerous materials — including the one in Ohio — from the “high-hazard” classification and its more stringent safety requirements.

Amid the lobbying blitz against stronger transportation safety regulations, Norfolk Southern paid executives millions and spent billions on stock buybacks — all while the company shed thousands of employees despite warnings that understaffing is intensifying safety risks. Norfolk Southern officials also fought off a shareholder initiative that could have required company executives to “assess, review, and mitigate risks of hazardous material transportation.”

Link: https://www.levernews.com/rail-companies-blocked-safety-rules-before-ohio-derailment/

[republianmushroom]

1. is this surprising

don't think so

[woodsprite]

2. Not surprising at all.

My brother retired a couple of years ago from a yard master and car inspector position from Norfolk Southern. They were times when every train was inspected. Then it turned to only checking them if they’d be in the yard overnight. Then went down to spot checking.

[Hiawatha Pete]

3. So called 'antiquated' brakes - also used on school buses & trucks -was not cause of Ohio derailment

According to latest reports, it appears the root cause of the derailment was not the brakes, but rather an overheated journal bearing on one of the railcars:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment

That "antiquated" brake system is the very same airbrake system (designed by George Westinghouse) that is used on schoolbuses & trucks around the world to this day, and is not unique to railways.

I'm guessing the reporter who wrote that story is probably unaware that the buses he/she sends their kids to school in every day use that exact same "civil war" technology.

Not to say that Electro Pneumatic brakes wouldn't have helped to mitigate, but it's like saying that the thousands of automobile deaths in the US every year are the fault of that pre-civil war invention known as "the wheel".

The real question is why did the automatic hotbox detectors located every 10 miles not pick up the overheated bearing, and if the detector wasn't getting a reading, why didn't the train operate at reduced speed at least until it reached the next working detector?

[Deminpenn]

4. The hotboxes did pick it up, there was a

warning signal in the cab and the engineer did initiate emergency braking. This was reported by and in the local media. The open the question seems to be exactly when and where the failure was picked up.

[Hiawatha Pete]

5. And once again, local media is miles ahead of 'Civil-War-era', manufactured-outrage-MSM.

Sources I've seen state: 1) The trackside videos show a bearing in the final stages of failure, with the train not yet derailed.

2) At time of reporting, NTSB was not sure yet if alert came from the prior from the hot box detector in Salem, or the next one in East Palestine.

The system is intended to catch an overheated bearing before a catastrophic derailment occurs and has worked for years, so what was different this time?

If the alert wasn't triggered when the train passed the first detector at Salem, then that needs to be investigated - which I'm sure the NTSB is doing.

[Deminpenn]

6. Agree

It was reported that a camera mounted outside a business near the track did show sparks or sparking as the train passed. That's probably the origin of point 1.

I'm sure the NTSB has that video and either has or asked for any other relevant video. I'd bet NS has already begun looking at the hotbox sensors and associated equipment.

[GGoss]

7. Are You Talking About This ?

Link: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217652757

[Deminpenn]

8. Yes

[Hiawatha Pete]

9. +1 Just further proves my point NTSB needs to look at the hotbox detectors. Which I'm sure they are.

[Deminpenn]

10. All equipment is accessible to the NTSB in this case

It's all above ground, only the derailed cars and section of track where the accident happened are damaged. NTSB should be able to do their investigation with relative ease.