Union official says safety of railroads has been compromised by job cuts and time constraints

National Transportation Safety Board holds two-day hearing in East Palestine, Ohio

National Transportation Safety Board holds two-day hearing in East Palestine, Ohio

WITH THE KEY POINTS MADE TODAY. KAYLEE. WELL, ANDREW, KRISTEN, TODAY THE FOCUS OF THE QUESTIONING SHIFTED FROM WHAT WE HEARD YESTERDAY ON DECISIONS MADE IN THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND EVACUATION OF THE SURROUNDING AREAS TO INSPECTION PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS FOR EACH PART OF THAT DERAILED TRAIN. FOR NEARLY FIVE MONTHS, THIS MOMENT IN FEBRUARY WHEN TOXIC CHEMICALS WERE RELEASED INTO THE AIR HAS REMAINED AT THE CENTER OF THE NTSB INVESTIGATION. WE RELY ON RAILROADS SUCH AS THE NORFOLK SOUTHERN TO SAFELY TRANSPORT OUR PRODUCTS TO THEIR DESTINATION. RYAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN FOR OXY VINYLS KAREN ANN STEGMAN EXPLAINING FRIDAY NIGHT OXY VINYLS OWNED THE FIVE DERAILED TANK CARS WHICH CONTAINED VINYL CHLORIDE. THESE TANK CARS DID NOT INITIATE THE DERAILMENT, NOR DID THEY BREACH IN THE DERAILMENT. THE TANKS ON THESE RAILCARS REMAINED INTACT FOLLOWING THE DERAILMENT. ADDITIONALLY, THE PRESSURE RELIEF DEVICES ON ALL FIVE CARS OPERATED AS INTENDED, PREVENTING DAMAGE TO THE TANKS BY RELIEVING THE ELEVATED PRESSURES CAUSED BY THE SURROUNDING FIRES. HOWEVER, FLARES FROM THE PRESSURE RELIEF VALVES EVENTUALLY STOPPED, LEADING TO MORE CONCERNS. THE CARS SYSTEMS WOULD NOT CONTAIN THE CHEMICALS INDEFINITELY ONTO INSPECTIONS. NTSB CHAIR JENNIFER HOMENDY DIRECTING HER QUESTIONS TO NORFOLK SOUTHERN. DOES NORFOLK SOUTHERN HAVE A WRITTEN OR UNWRITTEN TIME LIMIT FOR INSPECTIONS OF RAIL CARS? IN MY LIMITED EXPERIENCE AROUND OUR MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT, NO. I HAVE NOT SEEN ONE. NO POLICY. SEE THAT? NO WRITTEN POLICY ON TIME LIMITS FOR RAILCAR INSPECTIONS, FOR LIMITATIONS ON TIME. NO. HAMMOND CALLING ATTENTION TO THE AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT ON RAILCAR INSPECTIONS AS SHOWING AN EMAIL FROM NORFOLK SOUTHERN SENIOR GENERAL FOREMAN JOE WICK TELLING HIS TEAM THEY WERE SLACKING OFF IN THE TRAIN YARD, SAYING, QUOTE, LET’S GET THE NUMBERS AND REPORTING WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE. NORFOLK SOUTHERN CARMEN JASON COX ASKED TO EXPLAIN THE EMAIL. WELL, WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT THESE SAFETY AND SPECTERS FOR FREIGHT CARS ARE GETTING TORE OVER SPENDING. 45 SECONDS ASIDE FOR INSPECTING FREIGHT CARS AND THEY WANT IT LOWER TO THE MINUTE PER CAR THAT I HAVE PREVIOUSLY TESTIFIED TO BEFORE ENDING THE HEARING, HAMMOND THANKED LOCALS FOR BEING THERE THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS. IT’S OUR HOPE THAT THIS HEARING AND OUR SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION AND SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION REPORT WILL YIELD RECOMMENDATIONS WHICH ONCE ACTED UPON, WILL PREVENT FUTURE DERAILMENTS AND HAZMAT RELEASES FROM HARMING COMMUNITIES LIKE EAST PALESTINE AND ITS NEIGHBORS. WE’LL KEEP YOU UPDATED AS ANY NEW INFORMATION COMES FROM THE NTSB FOLLOWING THEIR REVIEW OF THE INFORMATION SHARED I

Union official says safety of railroads has been compromised by job cuts and time constraints

National Transportation Safety Board holds two-day hearing in East Palestine, Ohio

Freight railcar inspections are happening less often and are not as thorough as in years past due to staff cuts, time constraints and regulatory loopholes, a union official testified Friday during a federal hearing to examine the reasons behind a fiery train derailment in Ohio.The National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report that an overheating wheel bearing likely caused the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that sent a plume of toxic black smoke into the sky near East Palestine, Ohio. Several tank cars were damaged in the crash, and officials decided that five of them containing vinyl chloride needed to be blown open to release the chemical and prevent an explosion.It's not clear whether an inspector would have been able to catch that the bearing was failing because it is sealed within the railcar's axle. No inspector was even given a chance.Jason Cox with the Transportation Communications Union testified Friday during the second day of the NTSB hearing that the railcar that caused the derailment wasn’t inspected by Norfolk Southern even though it passed through three railyards where qualified inspectors were working.Cox said the lack of inspections reflects the changes Norfolk Southern has made since 2019 to slash the ranks of car inspectors and other employees, and that the company increasingly uses a loophole in federal regulations to rely on train crews to complete inspections instead of experts trained to do that work. He said train crews look at just 12 points on a rail car instead of the 90 to 105 points a carman checks.Furthermore, Cox said, carmen are pushed to inspect a car in just one minute instead of the roughly three minutes they had before the railroad starting making operational changes over the past four years. Norfolk Southern's representative at the hearing, Jared Hopewell, denied the railroad has a time limit for inspections. Cox cited a deposition from a Norfolk Southern manager that confirmed a one-minute goal.Video below: NTSB releases never-before-seen videos from the moment of the derailment.“This firewall of safety has been severely compromised,” Cox said during the hearing in East Palestine.The NTSB’s final report on the derailment is not expected until at least a year after the derailment.On Thursday, first responders and others testified about the difficulties they encountered in identifying the train's cargo, and reviewed why officials decided to release and burn the toxic chemicals. On Friday, residents, local officials and others are hearing testimony about the wheel bearings, trackside detectors and tank cars.After officials released and burned the vinyl chloride in the days after the derailment, roughly half the 5,000 East Palestine residents had to evacuate their homes. State and federal officials have said the air and water around town is safe, but residents continue to worry about the long-term health effects from the derailment.Norfolk Southern's Hopewell and Mike Rush with the Association of American Railroads trade group that sets standards for the industry said railroads are taking the Ohio derailment seriously and making changes to prevent any future derailments, including adding hundreds more trackside detectors that are supposed to spot overheating bearings before they cause a crash.The NTSB has said the overheating bearing triggered an alarm from one of those detectors in Ohio, but that the crew didn't have a chance to stop the train before the derailment.Rush said nearly every hazardous materials shipment that railroads haul arrives safely, but even one derailment involving those chemicals can be disastrous.“The Feb 3 derailment is a stark reminder of the railroad industry’s responsibility to the communities in which we operate. The railroads are taking what happened here with the utmost seriousness,” Rush said.Federal regulators and Congress have called on the industry to do more. One recommendation is to speed up upgrades of a certain model of older tank cars to make them less likely to rupture and leak during a derailment. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy pointed out that rule change would have affected only one of the 38 cars that derailed in Ohio. And all of the vinyl chloride cars that officials blew open were a different type of tank car.William Schoonover with the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said his agency is considering expanding what are designated as high-hazardous trains under 2015 rules that were crafted after a rash of derailments involving flammable liquids such as crude oil and ethanol. Congress is also considering applying those safety rules to additional commodities.A high-hazardous flammable train must have either a block of 20 or more flammable liquid cars or at least 35 flammable liquid cars in all. This Ohio train didn't qualify.Members of the NTSB questioned the wisdom of letting the railroad industry largely self-regulate — the Association of American Railroads trade group sets recommended standards — but Rush said federal regulators have input on the group's rules.The Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio officials continue to oversee the cleanup of contaminated soil and water.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report that an overheating wheel bearing likely caused the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that sent a plume of toxic black smoke into the sky near East Palestine, Ohio. Several tank cars were damaged in the crash, and officials decided that five of them containing vinyl chloride needed to be blown open to release the chemical and prevent an explosion.

It's not clear whether an inspector would have been able to catch that the bearing was failing because it is sealed within the railcar's axle. No inspector was even given a chance.

Jason Cox with the Transportation Communications Union testified Friday during the second day of the NTSB hearing that the railcar that caused the derailment wasn’t inspected by Norfolk Southern even though it passed through three railyards where qualified inspectors were working.

Cox said the lack of inspections reflects the changes Norfolk Southern has made since 2019 to slash the ranks of car inspectors and other employees, and that the company increasingly uses a loophole in federal regulations to rely on train crews to complete inspections instead of experts trained to do that work. He said train crews look at just 12 points on a rail car instead of the 90 to 105 points a carman checks.

Furthermore, Cox said, carmen are pushed to inspect a car in just one minute instead of the roughly three minutes they had before the railroad starting making operational changes over the past four years. Norfolk Southern's representative at the hearing, Jared Hopewell, denied the railroad has a time limit for inspections. Cox cited a deposition from a Norfolk Southern manager that confirmed a one-minute goal.

Video below: NTSB releases never-before-seen videos from the moment of the derailment.

“This firewall of safety has been severely compromised,” Cox said during the hearing in East Palestine.

The NTSB’s final report on the derailment is not expected until at least a year after the derailment.

On Thursday, first responders and others testified about the difficulties they encountered in identifying the train's cargo, and reviewed why officials decided to release and burn the toxic chemicals. On Friday, residents, local officials and others are hearing testimony about the wheel bearings, trackside detectors and tank cars.

After officials released and burned the vinyl chloride in the days after the derailment, roughly half the 5,000 East Palestine residents had to evacuate their homes. State and federal officials have said the air and water around town is safe, but residents continue to worry about the long-term health effects from the derailment.

Norfolk Southern's Hopewell and Mike Rush with the Association of American Railroads trade group that sets standards for the industry said railroads are taking the Ohio derailment seriously and making changes to prevent any future derailments, including adding hundreds more trackside detectors that are supposed to spot overheating bearings before they cause a crash.

The NTSB has said the overheating bearing triggered an alarm from one of those detectors in Ohio, but that the crew didn't have a chance to stop the train before the derailment.

Rush said nearly every hazardous materials shipment that railroads haul arrives safely, but even one derailment involving those chemicals can be disastrous.

“The Feb 3 derailment is a stark reminder of the railroad industry’s responsibility to the communities in which we operate. The railroads are taking what happened here with the utmost seriousness,” Rush said.

Federal regulators and Congress have called on the industry to do more.

One recommendation is to speed up upgrades of a certain model of older tank cars to make them less likely to rupture and leak during a derailment. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy pointed out that rule change would have affected only one of the 38 cars that derailed in Ohio. And all of the vinyl chloride cars that officials blew open were a different type of tank car.

William Schoonover with the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said his agency is considering expanding what are designated as high-hazardous trains under 2015 rules that were crafted after a rash of derailments involving flammable liquids such as crude oil and ethanol. Congress is also considering applying those safety rules to additional commodities.

A high-hazardous flammable train must have either a block of 20 or more flammable liquid cars or at least 35 flammable liquid cars in all. This Ohio train didn't qualify.

Members of the NTSB questioned the wisdom of letting the railroad industry largely self-regulate — the Association of American Railroads trade group sets recommended standards — but Rush said federal regulators have input on the group's rules.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio officials continue to oversee the cleanup of contaminated soil and water.

Union official says safety of railroads has been compromised by job cuts and time constraints

National Transportation Safety Board holds two-day hearing in East Palestine, Ohio

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