NTSB derailment investigation renews concerns about detectors, tank cars and Norfolk Southern

  • 📰 KPRC2
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 64 sec. here
  • 5 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 36%
  • Publisher: 68%

Politics News

Business,U.S. News

The National Transportation Safety Board’s daylong hearing on a 2023 Ohio train derailment near the Pennsylvania border is giving stakeholders plenty to think about.

FILE - A cleanup worker stands on a derailed tank car of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, continues, Feb. 15, 2023. The National Transportation Safety Boards daylong hearing on what caused the East Palestine derailment and how to prevent similar disasters gave the community, railroads and policymakers plenty to think about.

The NTSB said more research and rules are needed on detectors because there are no federal standards for them. Major railroads developed the devices on their own without guidance on where they should be placed or when they should trigger an alarm. Industry research has shown that having hot box detectors every 15 miles is ideal, but investigators think more study is needed.

The same tank cars figured in the worst rail disaster in modern history when 47 people were killed after a crude oil train derailed in the small Canadian town of Lac Megantic in 2013. DOT-111 tank cars were also involved in a number of disastrous crude oil and ethanol derailments in the early 2000s when railroads routinely hauled entire trains of those flammable commodities.

Despite concerns the NTSB has been raising at least since 1991, current rules will still allow DOT-111 tank cars to haul some hazardous materials, such as combustible liquids like diesel, even after the 2029 deadline. They just won't be able to be used for things classified as flammable liquids like the butyl acrylate that spilled in East Palestine.Rail labor groups and safety advocates hope that now that the NTSB has had its say, Congress will finally act onmonths after East Palestine.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 80. in CAR

Car Car Latest News, Car Car Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Norfolk Southern said ahead of the NTSB hearing that railroads will examine vent and burn decisionsDays before the National Transportation Safety Board is set to explain why first responders were wrong to blow open five tank cars and burn the toxic chemical inside after the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern said Friday it plans to lead an industrywide effort to improve the way those decisions are made.
Source: KPRC2 - 🏆 80. / 68 Read more »

Norfolk Southern said ahead of the NTSB hearing that railroads will examine vent and burn decisionsDays before the National Transportation Safety Board is set to explain why first responders were wrong to blow open five tank cars and burn the toxic chemical inside after the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern said Friday it plans to lead an industrywide effort to improve the way those decisions are made.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Norfolk Southern said ahead of the NTSB hearing that railroads will examine vent and burn decisionsDays before the National Transportation Safety Board is set to explain why first responders were wrong to blow open five tank cars and burn the toxic chemical inside after the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern said Friday it plans to lead an industrywide effort to improve the way those decisions are made.
Source: wjxt4 - 🏆 246. / 63 Read more »

Norfolk Southern said ahead of the NTSB hearing that railroads will examine vent and burn decisionsDays before the National Transportation Safety Board is set to explain why first responders were wrong to blow open five tank cars and burn the toxic chemical inside after the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern said Friday it plans to lead an industrywide effort to improve the way those decisions are made.
Source: ksatnews - 🏆 442. / 53 Read more »

Norfolk Southern botched decision to blow open vinyl chloride cars in East Palestine, NTSB saysNorfolk Southern and its contractors botched the decision to blow open five tank cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside after last year’s disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and tracksi…
Source: chicagotribune - 🏆 8. / 91 Read more »