Railroads to review NTSB findings, consider next steps

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its findings on the probable cause of the 2023 East Palestine, OH derailment and related safety recommendations.

“NTSB investigators have spent over a year analyzing the derailment’s causes to inform recommendations aimed at preventing similar accidents,” said Michael Rush, Senior Vice President of AAR Safety and Operations. “Railroads implemented substantial, industry-wide improvements in response to the NTSB’s initial findings. With the final report, railroads will carefully evaluate key learnings and determine next steps to meaningfully advance safety.”

Among the recommendations, many of the NTSB findings align with positions the industry has long maintained, including the need to aggressively phase out DOT-111 tank cars from hazmat service and other tank car improvements. Following today’s hearing, railroads are reviewing the complete findings and recommendations to identify the potential need for additional research surrounding bearing performance or other joint industry efforts.

The rail industry’s interchange standards allow freight railroads to more rapidly implement learnings that enhance safety than safety regulators can initiate and finalize rulemaking procedures. An example of this is the long-standing, industry-wide work to enhance tank car design standards. Rail remains one of the most regulated industries in the nation — and still freight railroads continue to implement standards often exceeding federal requirements. At the same time, federal regulators often incorporate AAR standards within the regulations by reference in recognition of the industry’s long track record for advancing safety-centered expertise in establishing operating practices.

Since the NTSB released its preliminary findings, railroads have applied lessons learned and taken significant steps that bolster safety and address what happened in the February 2023 incident. This includes a multi-prong approach to enhance the effectiveness of wayside detectors, improve first responder preparedness and address tank car standards. These new steps complement the more than $23 billion railroads invest annually in rail safety, employee training, infrastructure improvements and technological advancements.

Wayside Detectors & Inspections

Starting decades ago, railroads voluntarily developed, and have since widely deployed, wayside detectors to help prevent accidents caused by overheated bearings. The data clearly demonstrates these detectors have enhanced safety. Since East Palestine, railroads have taken three key steps that work in concert to further enhance the effectiveness of these detectors including:

• Increased the frequency of hot bearing detectors (HBDs) across key routes.

• Established a new industry standard of stopping and inspecting trains when an HBD reading exceeds 170°F. Effective July 1, 2023, AAR rules lowered the temperature threshold from 200°F to 170°F.

• Reviewed carriers’ current trending analysis programs to develop uniform recommendations for proactively identifying bearings that may become problematic. On November 29, 2023, railroads established a new, industry-wide trending analysis rule, informed by Railinc’s comprehensive analysis of 150 algorithms used by the Class I carriers to pinpoint the most effective algorithm for detecting problematic bearings. Railinc is the industry’s leading technology and data solutions partner.

First Responders

Ensuring first responders are properly trained to respond safely in the event of an incident, and can access the information they need should an incident occur, are top priorities for the rail industry. Since February of 2023, railroads have redoubled these efforts through:

• Dramatically expanding access to AskRail, which provides real-time information on rail car contents and the safe handling of those materials. Today, AskRail information is now available to more than 2.3 million first responders across the U.S. and Canada through our work with both CHEMTREC and CANUTEC, emergency call centers for hazmat handling as well as with dispatchers in Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs). Railroads continue outreach and onboarding for ECCs across the nation with 224 fully onboarded and another 55 currently in the onboarding process.

• This year, Class I railroads have trained more than 16,000 first responders, and more than 1,000 have received specialized training at the industry’s Security and Emergency Response Training Center (SERTC). In 2023, Class I railroads trained about 35,500 first responders and provided specialized training at SERTC to 1,800 responders.

Enhanced Tank Car Standards

Based upon the public hearing last year, it is likely the NTSB will also call for enhancements to tank car standards, something railroads have strongly supported for decades. Since the incident, railroads have:

• Identified ways to improve the fire performance of tank cars and other service equipment. AAR’s Tank Car Committee (TCC) is working to enhance standards related to bottom valve protection to increase safety. This is a voluntary joint initiative between the industry and the hazmat shippers who own the tank cars.