National Transportation Safety Board Opens Special Investigation Into Norfolk Southern ‘Safety Culture’

Portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, are still on fire at mid-day on Feb. 4, 2023. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

Prompted by a string of “five significant accidents” involving Norfolk Southern Railway, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on March 7 that it’s opening a special investigation of the company’s “organization and safety culture.”

“Given the number and significance of recent Norfolk Southern accidents, the NTSB also urges the company to take immediate action today to review and assess its safety practices, with the input of employees and others, and implement necessary changes to improve safety,” the federal agency said in a statement.

Since December 2021, the NTSB has assigned investigative teams to five Norfolk Southern incidents, the agency reported.

“An employee for National Salvage and Service Corporation assigned to work with a Norfolk Southern work team replacing track was killed when the operator of a spike machine reversed direction and struck the employee in Reed, Pennsylvania” on Dec. 8, 2021, the NTSB stated.

Multiple cars of a Norfolk Southern train lie toppled after derailing at a train crossing with Ohio 41 in Clark County, Ohio, on March 4, 2023. Bill Lackey/Springfield-News Sun via AP

“On Dec. 13, 2022, a Norfolk Southern trainee conductor was killed, and another conductor was injured, when the lead locomotive of a Norfolk Southern freight train struck a steel angle iron protruding from a gondola car on another Norfolk Southern freight train that was stopped on an adjacent track in Bessemer, Alabama.”

The agency also referenced recent events, including a 2.55-mile-long Norfolk Southern freight train crashing near Springfield, Ohio, on March 4 and a railroad conductor’s death after a Norfolk Southern train collided with a dump truck in Cleveland on March 7.

The most prominent disaster surrounding Norfolk Southern occurred on Feb. 3, when a freight train carrying 151 cars derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, a village one mile from the Pennsylvania border.

When the train crashed, 38 rail cars derailed. A fire ensued, damaging an additional 12 cars.

Of the 20 cars carrying hazardous materials, 11 derailed, the NTSB discovered.

A cleanup crew member works on Feb. 14 at the site of the Norfolk Southern Railroad derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times

Seeking to avoid an explosion, officials intentionally released and burned vinyl chloride from the train on Feb. 6, sending a massive cloud of black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles and was likened to the mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear weapon.

The NTSB will also review a Norfolk Southern derailment in Sandusky, Ohio, on Oct. 8, 2022, as part of the special investigation.

“The continued safe operations of Norfolk Southern is vital to the United States. The NTSB is concerned that several organizational factors may be involved in the accidents, including safety culture,” the NTSB statement reads.

“The NTSB will conduct an in-depth investigation into the safety practices and culture of the company. At the same time, the company should not wait to improve safety, and the NTSB urges it to do so immediately.”

Toxic Train Derailment

On March 6, Norfolk Southern released a safety plan based on the NTSB’s preliminary findings on the Feb. 3 toxic train derailment.

When the NTSB released its preliminary report on the East Palestine derailment in February, chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said, “I can tell you this much: This was 100 percent preventable.

“We call things ‘accidents.’ There is no accident.

“Every single event that we investigate is preventable. So our hearts are with, you know, that the NTSB has one goal, and that is safety. And ensuring that this never happens again.”

In addition to its special investigation, the NTSB stated that it will have a field hearing in East Palestine this spring. A final report with recommendations might not be completed for two years, Homendy noted.

Company Quiet on Investigation

Norfolk Southern hasn’t commented on the NTSB special investigation, but after releasing its safety plan on March 6, Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw released a statement.

“Reading the NTSB report makes it clear that meaningful safety improvements require a comprehensive industry effort that brings together railcar and tank car manufacturers, railcar owners and lessors, and the railroad companies,” Shaw said.

“We are eager to help drive that effort and we are not waiting to take action.”

The NTSB found that the East Palestine derailment was likely caused by an overheated wheel bearing.

Hot Bearing Detectors

Hot bearing detectors are installed along railroad tracks to assess the temperature conditions of wheel bearings and the overall health of rail equipment and infrastructure.

Norfolk Southern states in its safety plan that it “will immediately begin” to “enhance the hot bearing detector network ... pilot next-generation hot bearing detectors ... work with industry on practices for hot bearing detectors ... deploy more acoustic bearing detectors ... accelerate [the company’s] Digital Train Inspection program ... and support a strong safety culture.”

The Federal Railroad Administration recently released a safety advisory encouraging railroads to improve the use of hot bearing detectors.

Norfolk Southern has reported 3,397 events that could be classified as derailments over the past 20 years, according to Texas-based attorney Mikal Watts, who’s part of the advocacy group East Palestine Justice.

In 2022, Norfolk Southern had 770 train car derailments involving hazardous materials compared with 79 incidents in 2012, Watts noted.

A 10-year safety summary from the Federal Railroad Administration shows that the railroad had an annual average of 163.6 derailments and 2.9 hazardous material releases.

Shaw will appear at a hearing conducted by the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee on March 9.