NTSB to investigate Norfolk Southern Railway over 'significant accidents'

Eric Marotta, Akron Beacon Journal
·2 min read
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A worker keeps watch near the East Taggert Street railroad crossing as cleanup from a Norfolk Southern derailment continues Tuesday in East Palestine.
A worker keeps watch near the East Taggert Street railroad crossing as cleanup from a Norfolk Southern derailment continues Tuesday in East Palestine.

Citing "the number and significance of recent Norfolk Southern accidents," the National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday it would conduct a special investigation of Norfolk Southern Railway’s "organization and safety culture."

The board also urged the company to take immediate action to review and assess its safety practices, with the input of employees and others, and implement necessary changes to improve safety.

The announcement comes the day after NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said a final report on the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment and hazardous materials spill could take more than a year to complete. Also on Monday, Norfolk Southern announced it would add more sensors and move to upgrade safety measures on its system.

State oversight:Ohio Senate holds first train derailment hearing on East Palestine disaster

Ohio Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel, left, of Columbiana County, and state Rep. Lauren McNally of Youngstown speak in support of an act that would require companies transporting hazardous chemicals on rail lines to submit that information to the areas they are traveling through.
Ohio Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel, left, of Columbiana County, and state Rep. Lauren McNally of Youngstown speak in support of an act that would require companies transporting hazardous chemicals on rail lines to submit that information to the areas they are traveling through.

The NTSB said investigative teams have had to deploy to five significant accidents involving Norfolk Southern in just over one year. Three of the incidents were in Ohio in just over one month:

● On Dec. 8, 2021, an employee for National Salvage and Service Corp. assigned to work with a Norfolk Southern team replacing track was killed when the operator of a spike machine reversed direction and struck the employee in Reed, Pennsylvania.

● 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.

● On Feb. 3​, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine. The derailment resulted in a significant fire and hazardous materials release.

● On March 4, a 2.55-mile-long Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near Springfield.

● On March 7, a Norfolk Southern employee was killed during a train movement in Cleveland.

As part of the special investigation, the NTSB said it will also review the Oct. 28 Norfolk Southern derailment in Sandusky.

Another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ravenna Township in Portage County on Oct. 2.

The NTSB said it is concerned that several organizational factors may be involved in the accidents, including safety culture.

In the Feb. 3 East Palestine incident, the NTSB said it appears a bearing in a rail car failed, causing a derailment that involved cars containing vinyl chloride, a flammable chemical used as a precursor to many plastic products. An evacuation order was issued for the area around the derailment site, and the chemicals were released from the cars into a trench, where they were burnt off.

Eric Marotta can be reached at emarotta@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarottaEric.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: NTSB to probe 'safety culture' at Norfolk Southern after incidents