A nationally acknowledged practice security knowledgeable is taking the railroad {industry} to job, calling it “one of the protected and coddled industries in our nation.”
Bob Comer, previously of Alliance and now dwelling in Kansas, has spent 33 years investigating greater than 800 rail accidents and derailments. He believes the Feb. 3 derailment of an eastbound Norfolk Southern freight practice in East Palestine was avoidable and boils it all the way down to “security final and cash first.”
Norfolk Southern, nevertheless, factors to its $200 million in investments on its community, over time, to scale back derailments and improve security.
Comer, 75, was a child in 1956 when relations have been significantly harm in a practice accident in Alliance. He mentioned their automotive handed an unmarked crossing and was hit by a passenger practice that did not sound its horn. The incident had a profound impact on him and is why he tried to be taught every part he may about trains.
In his spare time, he learn up on the {industry} he mentioned is answerable for “serving to to construct our nation.”
Comer has skilled with a former Public Utilities Fee of Ohio rail inspector and a nationally-recognized knowledgeable in railroad crossing accident investigation and reconstruction, and testified as an knowledgeable witness in a felony trial involving the deaths of two folks at an unguarded railroad crossing. He’s assisted legislation enforcement businesses in investigations of railroad-related accidents throughout the U.S.
In keeping with his bio, Comer hung out in Vietnam within the Navy and majored in laptop science on the College of Akron. He spent 31 years working mainframe computer systems for corporations within the banking safety, communication and transportation companies.
200 YEARS OF RAILROADING
Comer famous the worst railroad accident in Ohio was in 1876 when a poorly-constructed bridge in Ashtabula collapsed underneath the burden of a practice, which plunged right into a gorge beneath. The accident killed 92, some from the accident itself, the remaining from a fireplace that broke out after.
Comer mentioned he sees that accident, typically referred to as “The Ashtabula Horror,” as an early indication that the {industry} cared extra about cash than folks.
Comer additional famous the almost 200-year-old {industry} continues to be utilizing a monitor system from the 1800s. He mentioned flanges on practice wheels are designed to maintain the wheel on a rail, however these in use on right now’s trains are too small.
The lateral strain placed on them when a practice is rounding a curve might trigger failure if a practice is shifting too quick: “That may be a derailment, plain and easy,” he mentioned.
He believes longer flanges would considerably lower derailments however mentioned “it might price billions” for corporations to improve.
Norfolk Southern, the rail firm answerable for the devastating Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, lately issued a six-point plan to boost security and detect issues that might result in future derailments. Plans embrace enhancement of the recent bearing detector community and upgrades to tools and expertise.
The plan was launched on the heels of 4 Ohio derailments since October 2022. A day after the announcement, one other Norfolk Southern practice derailed in Springfield Township.
THE WRECKAGE
A Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) report discovered 38 rail automobiles derailed in East Palestine at about 8:54 p.m. Feb. 3. The derailment, which led to evacuations, included 11 tank automobiles carrying flamable liquids and flammable liquids and fuel, together with vinyl chloride, a petrochemical. A fireplace began, damaging a further 12 automobiles that had not derailed.
A scorching bearing detector (HBD) on the east aspect of East Palestine had sounded an audible alarm, telling the crew to sluggish and cease to examine a scorching axle. The NTSB reported the practice handed three HBD programs previous to the derailment.
The practice carried a crew of three — a locomotive engineer, a conductor and a conductor trainee. Sparks and flames will be seen on video from a Salem enterprise underneath one of many practice automobiles, about 20 miles out.
The NTSB reported the practice, with 149 rail automobiles, was touring about 47 mph on the time of the derailment. The utmost velocity allowed for that practice is 50 mph, in response to the report.
Comer mentioned he questions whether or not the crew obtained a scorching field warning, and if that’s the case, what directions they obtained. He desires to know why the practice didn’t cease then and mentioned, from his expertise, nothing occurs alongside the rail line with out the rail corporations understanding about it.
The railroad, through spokeswoman Katelyn L. Byrd, responded that the preliminary NTSB report signifies the crew operated the practice inside the firm’s guidelines, and the wayside warmth detectors have been working as designed. “As soon as the rail crew was alerted by the wayside detector, they instantly started to cease the practice.”
She continued: “The corporate’s wayside detectors on its community set off an alarm at a temperature threshold that’s among the many lowest within the rail {industry}. Norfolk Southern has an in depth wayside detection community deployed throughout our rail traces.Roughly 1,000 scorching bearing detectors examine every wheel bearing on every automotive because it passes, leading to greater than 2 billion readings annually.
“When one thing irregular is detected, a warning message is shipped to the passing practice so, if vital, fast motion could also be taken, together with stopping the practice. Every of those detectors can also be networked with the Norfolk Southern information middle. The detector information together with the extra data is out there to our assist desk who support in figuring out any acceptable motion by the practice crew. …
“This can be a important security funding of greater than $200,000,000 over time that goals to additional scale back derailments of this nature on our community, which have considerably declined since we put them into use and have superior the expertise over time.”
CONTROLLED BURN
By Feb. 5, the hearth on the East Palestine derailment web site was out, however 5 derailed tank automobiles carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride involved officers as a result of the temperature in a single automotive continued to rise. Saying this posed an explosion threat, officers on Feb. 6 started a managed burn that continued for a number of hours.
Comer questions Norfolk Southern’s determination to provoke a managed burn, saying the corporate’s money-making line runs between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, which East Palestine falls alongside, and a backup of trains alongside the monitor would stifle enterprise.
“It appears to me they may have simply cooled the one automotive that was getting scorching,” he mentioned. “Why didn’t they simply spray it with foam?”
The railroad responded: “On Sunday afternoon, Feb. 5, in the course of the monitoring of the derailed automobiles, it was discovered that the strain reduction units on among the automobiles had stopped working. If not addressed, it may end in a catastrophic failure of the automobiles. In coordination amongst all businesses and stakeholders, we now have put collectively a plan to manually vent the automobiles. The contents have been drained in a managed trend. To guard the atmosphere, we ready pits and embankments to empty the fabric to be remediated. All through, we monitored air high quality with native and state officers.”
Comer referred to as Norfolk Southern’s security report “horrible” and mentioned rail corporations aren’t held accountable for negligence or issues of safety as a result of they’re self-insured.
The railroad responded: “… we diligently monitor our trains and infrastructure to determine potential hazards, and we make investments roughly a billion {dollars} into sustaining our infrastructure yearly. Our industry-leading engineering and mechanical groups are executing tasks that improve our inspection high quality and infrastructure to offer safer outcomes.”
NORFOLK SOUTHERN PLANS
Norfolk Southern supplied an outlook to focus on efforts in coming days: shifting contaminated soil and water from the location for correct disposal; eradicating areas of monitor; increasing groundwater monitoring; sampling post-rain sediment at space waterways; capturing rainwater inside the contaminated space for short-term storage and disposal; and eradicating liquid waste from the location to permitted disposal amenities.
That is along with every day air monitoring, weekly sampling of the village’s consuming water; sampling personal water wells; and monitoring floor water high quality within the space, the e-mail states.
What the group can count on throughout cleanup, it provides, is: intermittent odors; extra site visitors, staff, automobiles and tools in the neighborhood as crews proceed work; noise, though makes an attempt will likely be made to restrict it close to residential areas; and site visitors closures on Taggart Highway as waste is hauled out.
Additional, Norfolk Southern introduced it should create a brand new regional coaching middle in Ohio for first responders, companion with group leaders to determine a location for the brand new facility, and develop its Operation Consciousness and Response program, which travels the corporate’s 22-state community and trains first responders on easy methods to reply safely to rail incidents.
Whereas the situation for the devoted facility is chosen, coaching courses will begin on March 22 at Norfolk Southern’s yard in Bellevue. The mission of the protection coaching middle will likely be to offer further, free coaching for first responders from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the higher area, and to strengthen coordination between railroads and first responders within the occasion of an emergency response, Norfolk Southern mentioned.
The U.S. Environmental Safety Company lately introduced 1000’s of residents of East Palestine and parts of Pennsylvania inside a mile of the derailment web site will obtain help with short-term lodging, meals, journey and clothes throughout cleanup.
In an e mail to this newspaper, the corporate mentioned it is going to be current in the neighborhood so long as it takes: “We’re dedicated to serving to the group of East Palestine thrive and to being conscious of long-term wants.”
REGULATIONS AND PENALTIES
U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, and J.D. Vance, R-Cincinnati, have co-sponsored the RailwaySafety Act of 2023 to ascertain new rules for the railroad {industry} and description monetary penalties for failing to comply with them.
Brown has mentioned he worries the rail {industry} has sufficient energy to struggle rules, and acknowledged the invoice has probability of passing the Senate however might not go the Republican-controlled Home.
If handed, the act would come with new security rules for trains carrying hazardous chemical substances, require rail carriers to inform state emergency response personnel about what they’re transporting and decrease derailment threat by imposing practice dimension and weight limits.
It will additionally set up new necessities for monitoring wheel bearings.
“Rail lobbyists have fought stronger security requirements for years, and Ohio communities like East Palestine and Springfield have paid the worth,” Brown mentioned in an e mail. “It’s why Senator Vance and I wrote these commonsense bipartisan security measures: to lastly maintain massive railroad corporations accountable, and to make our railroads and the Ohio cities alongside them safer.”
A information launch issued by Seth Schuster, the White Home regional communications director, mentioned America’s railways are “indispensable” to the financial system and lifestyle. Quite a few high-profile freight rail incidents within the early 2010s led to new rail security guidelines which have been strongly opposed by the railroad {industry}, Schuster mentioned.
Derailments have decreased by 15 % since then, he mentioned, however defined there are nonetheless greater than 1,000 derailments annually — calling it proof the {industry} must do extra when it comes to security.
COST CUTTING
Comer mentioned the railroad {industry} — with permission from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) — removed cabooses in 1984 to save cash. Cabooses housed a crew answerable for figuring out shifting masses, tools harm and overheating axles. The {industry} as a substitute determined to put in scorching field detectors alongside the rail, a transfer he referred to as “the most important destruction to rail security within the historical past of the {industry}.”
Vince Verna, vice chairman and nationwide legislative consultant with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) in Washington, D.C., mentioned the railroad {industry} adopted a cost-cutting mannequin a couple of years in the past to maximise earnings. “It’s actually created lots of incentive to chop corners,” he mentioned, including that corporations have fought to roll again rules that will get in the best way of that purpose.
That mannequin, referred to as precision scheduled railroading (PSR), means there are fewer staff, larger trains and heavier masses to ensure a much bigger payout for shareholders, Comer defined.
Verna is beginning his thirtieth yr within the railroad {industry} and mentioned his prior position on the BLET was director for regulatory affairs. He mentioned all the teachings discovered from previous derailments and accidents are being forgotten, within the identify of revenue. “We noticed it in sluggish movement and it’s painful to observe,” he added.
Verna mentioned he spent 18 years as a railroad engineer in Arizona and believes the {industry} has for years been missing within the areas of inspections, testing and upkeep. “Detectors can’t be the one safeguard,” he mentioned, explaining that reducing jobs for inspectors has “taken away one other a part of the protection web.”
Comer mentioned he understands why East Palestine residents are so mad and wonders what the longer term holds for the city, its residents’ well being, property values and the atmosphere. He mentioned soil, water and air contamination may very well be an ongoing challenge and {that a} chemist instructed him testing would wish to proceed “for years to return” to find out the precise affect.
“This is sort of a Sep 11 state of affairs in Ohio,” he added.
The railroad mentioned: “The municipal water continues to be sampled and monitored by the Columbiana County Well being District, together with a crew of unbiased scientists. Outcomes present no water high quality considerations. Testing has been carried out on roughly 188 personal consuming water wells. Take a look at outcomes will likely be shared with particular person residents.”
However Comer predicts that one other catastrophe of this magnitude is inevitable until Congress and the FRA put security over revenue. “In the event that they don’t do one thing about it, there’s going to be one other East Palestine,” he mentioned.