The strain on railroad workers was a focus on the second day of a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment.
Jason Cox, a representative for the Brotherhood of Railroad Carmen, testified that rather than having inspections carried out by the specialists his union represents, Norfolk Southern now relies more heavily on train crews to do them. He said the result was that the first car to derail in East Palestine had not undergone a thorough inspection from the point it was turned over to Norfolk Southern in Madison, Ill.
The letter and Cox’s testimony were part of a running theme Friday at the hearing, held by the National Transportation Safety Board in the East Palestine High School gym. Union leaders said they repeatedly warned that Norfolk Southern, along with other railroads, were stretching resources increasingly thin in the name of efficiency, putting safety at risk.
In a letter included among the records, Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose wrote to Norfolk Southern to say officials were concerned about changes in how railroads were carrying out inspections. Bose said the agency had evidence that railroads were not properly checking trains into terminals — being kept instead on “ghost tracks” — meaning they could avoid being inspected by dedicated carmen and would instead be checked by other workers.
“The bearings are sealed components,” he said. “I’m not saying a carman can never detect an issue with a bearing, but that’s not typically going to be the case.”The derailment has focused attention on safety practices in the railroad industry. In addition to launching an in-depth investigation of the East Palestine derailment, the NTSB is also reviewing Norfolk Southern’s safety culture — an additional layer of scrutiny begun after the death of a conductor in Cleveland.
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