The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday that Norfolk Southern repeatedly attempted to influence the agency’s investigation into the East Palestine train derailment and sway its conclusions regarding the erroneous decision to explode five tank cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside.
The NTSB also confirmed at Tuesday’s hearing that the February 2023 derailment was attributable to a wheel bearing that, based on video, had previously been ablaze for greater than 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) but was not detected in time by inaccurate detectors on the track. The panel also adopted greater than two dozen recommendations to forestall similar disasters, including setting federal rules for those detectors and the way railroads reply to them, and reviewing how officials determine whether to ever conduct a vent and burn again.
More than three dozen freight cars derailed on the sting of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania border on February 3, 2023, including 11 carrying hazardous materials. Some residents were evacuated that night, but days later more were forced to go away their homes fearing an explosion. Despite potential health effects, officials intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride three days after the accident, sending flames and smoke into the air.
At the top of the meeting, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy accused Norfolk Southern of interfering within the investigation and abusing its status as a celebration to the investigation to help in gathering information.
“Norfolk Southern’s abuse of the party process was unprecedented and reprehensible,” she said.
According to Homendy, the railroad company has repeatedly been late in providing information to investigators or has not provided it in any respect. On two occasions, Homendy called the railroad company on the request of investigators and threatened to issue subpoenas for information, she said.
A railroad company told investigators that it didn’t make or keep records of temperature changes in tank cars full of vinyl chloride, however the NTSB suspected otherwise.
“We found out through text messages from one of their employees that they had kept these records,” Homendy said. “It took about two months for the team to receive these texts and emails.”
Some of the findings discussed on Tuesday weren’t surprising, because the NTSB has already released some details about this investigation, however the hearing revealed essentially the most details yet in regards to the Bearing overheating and the failure of the trackside detectors to detect the high temperatures. The board also investigated why the choice to intentionally vent and burn the vinyl chloride was defective.
After discussing that a trackside detector in Salem, Ohio, didn’t accurately measure storage temperatures, NTSB investigators said Norfolk Southern and its contractors compromised the integrity of the vent-and-burn decision by withholding information from Oxy Vinyls, the manufacturer of the vinyl chloride, including evidence that the tank cars had cooled after the accident.
The officials who made the choice said they never received any information to suggest that dumping and burning was not their only option.
“Norfolk Southern and its contractors continued to insist on the need for venting and burning, even though the available evidence should have led them to reconsider their original conclusion,” said investigator Paul Stancil.
The railroad again defended the choice Tuesday, saying it was based on greater than just the temperature readings. Officials also had concerns in regards to the pressure relief devices on the tank cars malfunctioning, although Homendy said a few of those fears were unfounded if investigators’ findings were believed. Norfolk Southern added that nothing stopped Oxy Vinyls from participating within the command center discussion and voicing its opinion in regards to the tank cars.
Oxy Vinyls experts testified at previous NTSB hearings that they were confident a feared chemical response that would have caused the tank cars to blow up didn’t occur. Oxy Vinyls didn’t address questions on its role within the venting and burning decision in an announcement Tuesday.
Norfolk Southern stressed in its statement that it really useful the venting and burning for safety reasons. Homendy said an organization executive told the board in a personal meeting two weeks ago that Norfolk Southern desired to put an end to the “rumor” that the railroad made the choice to get trains moving again more quickly.
According to her, the exchange ended with a threat from the railway company.
“It was conveyed this way to take every opportunity and opportunity to vigorously defend their decision-making in the media and at hearings. That is your right. But it is not our job to defend Norfolk Southern. We are here to protect the American people and travelers,” Homendy said.
Shortly before Homendy began her rebuke, Norfolk Southern had just issued a lengthy statement pledging to review the NTSB’s recommendations and work to enhance safety. In response, railroad spokesman Tom Crosson said Norfolk Southern has at all times tried to offer the NTSB with all of the relevant information it needs.
“Norfolk Southern has cooperated fully, ethically and with complete transparency in the investigation at all times,” Crosson said.
However, the chief safety expert of the biggest railroad union involved within the NTSB investigation said that while these findings raise concerns about Norfolk Southern, he is anxious in regards to the commitment to safety of all major Class I railroads. Jared Cassity of the SMART-TD union said Union Pacific’s recent efforts to undermine regulators’ safety survey is one of the crucial recent examples.
“She made NS sound like they were all alone on an island. But in my opinion, all Class One members are kind of the same beast,” Cassity said.
Misti Allison, an East Palestine resident, said the community continues to be concerned about potential health effects from the vinyl chloride and the toxic cocktail of other chemicals that leaked and burned through the derailment, and additionally they now know that the railroad company has not at all times been forthcoming.
“Community members have a right to transparency and proactive protection, not the silence, secrecy and manipulation that came to light today in the Norfolk Southern case,” Allison said.
The NTSB said first responders need good guidance on when to think about venting and burning as a final resort to save lots of lives. Until recently, they didn’t even have access to previous reports on the topic since the railroads insisted it was sensitive safety information.
Norfolk Southern has already reached an agreement with the federal government and announced Settlement in school motion lawsuit amounting to $600 million with local residents, so it’s unclear what consequences the railroad will face beyond continuing to pay for the cleanup work overseen by the EPA. But Ohio and Pennsylvania haven’t yet accomplished their investigations, so the states may do more to carry Norfolk Southern accountable.
Although the NTSB’s recommendations usually are not binding, given the headlines about rail safety, Congress could also be willing to implement a few of them.
More than a yr ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by the 2 senators from Ohio decided suggested a package Reforms including requiring two-person crews and setting standards for inspections and detectors that help prevent derailments. Bill ultimately got here to a standstill within the US Senate against the resistance of the Republicans and the railroad company.
“The findings announced today by NTSB Chairman Homendy confirm many of my worst fears,” said Senator JD Vance of Ohio. “The derailment and the chemical explosion that followed were preventable tragedies resulting from a series of errors by Norfolk Southern and its contractors.”
With limited success, federal regulators also pushed for railroads to make changes, akin to joining a anonymous government hotline to report safety concerns. The industry responded to the accident by promising to put in more trackside detectors, review their use, and help emergency responders improve their handling of derailments through more training and higher access to information in regards to the load.
