What could have prevented the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment?
OMAHA, Neb. (WJW) — Members of the National Transportation Safety Board heard bombshell testimony on Friday from top railroad union officials about lax inspection standards by Norfolk Southern that may have contributed to the Feb. 3 derailment of 38 chemical tanker cars in East Palestine.
The startling revelations came during a second day of NTSB hearings on the catastrophic derailment.
When asked by a member of the NTSB about what type of inspections were performed on the first car to derail — from when Norfolk Southern first received the car in Madison, Illinois, up until the train derailment in East Palestine — Jason Cox, who represents the Brotherhood of Railroad Carmen, told the panel: “My understanding of the record is when Norfolk Southern first received the car, there was no inspection done.”
Cox and representatives of other rail unions told the NTSB that the proper inspection of cars might have detected a problem with an overheated bearing in a wheel of the first derailed car, and prevented the derailment and the environmental disaster that followed.
According to Cox, “it passed through Toledo, Ohio, where it stopped; Cleveland, Ohio, where it stopped; and passed through Bellevue, Ohio, on [the Norfolk Southern] system. There are qualified mechanical inspectors at all these points, but they would not have been allowed to look at that car, per the Norfolk Southern policy.”
Union representatives told the NTSB that Norfolk Southern, in order to increase productivity and profits, has cut the number of inspectors and the amount of time the company allows inspectors to check rail cars for defects.
“With a lot of these locations being vacated of human inspectors — who should be working with the technology — this firewall of safety has been severely compromised,” said Cox.
Union officials also told the NTSB that Norfolk Southern uses a method called “ghost tracks,” where trains do not stop in rail yards for inspections.
“And with the train never being yarded, where they change out the crews, there is no qualified mechanical inspection that has to be performed in that instance — and therefore, that can be used to skate about the regulation,” said Cox.
Union officials told the NTSB that the Feb. 3 accident dramatically illustrates why it is vital for Congress to create new federal standards for rail safety, and to make sure they are enforced.
Chris Hand, Director of Research for the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, told the panel, “it is crucial to create regulations that establish standardized practices, instead of relying solely on railroads to create their own standards.”
Source: WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland
