Major railroads announce safety measures after Ohio train derailment
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) – Major freight railroads announced Wednesday a series of steps they are taking to improve safety in the wake of last month’s Ohio train derailment, but it’s unclear whether their actions will be enough to satisfy regulators and members of Congress who are pushing for change.
Many of the Association of American Railroads’ trade group proposals focus on strengthening the network of track detectors that railroads use to detect problems before they cause derailments. The railroads plan to do this by installing 1,000 more detectors across the country and changing the way the railroads use the data they provide.
Norfolk Southern, the railroad responsible for the Feb. 3 derailment in eastern Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border, proposed similar changes earlier this week, but the Federal Railroad Administration responded that the company was not doing enough. .
And several members of Congress – led by two senators from Ohio – have proposed a massive package of railroad reforms that goes far beyond what the industry is proposing. Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg also urged railroads to make immediate changes.
Federal regulators did not immediately respond to questions about the industry’s proposals on Wednesday. Congress plans to consider Norfolk Southern’s safety record and its response to the Ohio shipwreck in a Senate hearing Thursday morning, which will also consider reforms proposed by Ohio senators. On Tuesday, two federal agencies also announced extensive security investigations into Norfolk Southern.
In general, railroads are proud of their safety record, reflecting the decline in derailments in recent years, and like to publish statistics that 99.9% of all hazardous material shipments handled by rail reach their destinations. insecurity. However, last year there were 1,049 derailments across the country, and a case in eastern Palestine showed that even a single accident involving hazardous materials can have catastrophic consequences.
“Rail is arguably the safest way to transport dangerous goods,” said AAR President Ian Jeffries. “However, we fully understand that these data are not comforting to the people of eastern Palestine and that public confidence must be restored by action.”
Major freight railroads, including Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Canadian Pacific, Kansas City Southern and Canadian National, have said they will shorten the distance between hot bearing detectors to keep them below 15 miles (15 miles) on average. . 24 km) along the main routes used for the transport of hazardous chemicals. There are currently no federal regulations for these detectors, which can be up to 40 miles (64 kilometers) away in some locations, although most are much closer.
Railroad safety expert Allan Zarembski said the existing detector network is already quite effective and only allows a few overheated bearing derailments each year. But these changes are sure to hit those issues even harder, said a University of Delaware professor who leads the railroad design and safety program there.
Zarembski said he thinks these changes are likely to be “pretty effective.”
The railroads have said they are also committed to stopping and checking any train whose bearing exceeds the outside air temperature by more than 170 degrees. This is in line with the standards that Norfolk Southern already uses.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the Norfolk Southern crew received a bearing overheat warning shortly before the derailment but failed to stop the train before 38 cars, including 11 carrying hazardous materials, derailed and burst into flames. About half of the East Palestinian city – about 2,500 residents – had to be evacuated a couple of days later because authorities feared that five cars filled with vinyl chloride could explode. They then released the chemical and burned it.
In addition to stopping trains whenever the detection exceeds 170 degrees, railroads also analyze data from sensors on their networks to spot problems before the detection reaches that threshold. The trade group said all major railroads plan to discuss ways to improve this analysis by the end of March.
The railroads said they also plan to train about 20,000 first responders across the country this year to deal with hazardous materials incidents. As part of this, Norfolk Southern announced on Wednesday plans to build a new regional training center in Ohio. Gov. Mike Devine praised the efforts.
“The crash in eastern Palestine made it clear that ensuring that first responders are prepared for natural disasters involving hazardous materials is vital to the safety of communities,” DeWine said. “Volunteers are often the first to respond, and their need for state-of-the-art training and equipment is vital.”
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