© Reuters.
By David Shepardson
Washington (Reuters) – a Southern Norfolk (NYSE::) A freight train that derailed near New Castle, Pennsylvania, Wednesday night received an alert several miles before the accident, according to preliminary results released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The derailment of nine train cars about 20 miles (32 km) from the site of the February 3 incident in East Palestine, Ohio, was where the Norfolk train cars operated by the South, carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals, spilled and caught fire.
The railroad said Thursday that there were no reports of injuries or serious material concerns in the Pennsylvania derailment. Initial information indicated that the train received an alert “from a roadside fault detector, or hot load detector, several miles before the train derailed,” the NTSB said.
The devices are used to detect the temperature of wheel bearings on railway cars. Norfolk Southern did not immediately comment.
In a derailment in eastern Palestine, the NTSB said, a roadside fault detector sent a critical audible alarm message telling the crew to slow and stop the train to inspect the hot axle.
Some experts said the derailment in eastern Palestine might have been avoided if detectors had been placed one after the other. This derailment and subsequent fire sent a cloud of smoke with black plumes rising over the town of East Palestine, angering thousands of residents who were forced to evacuate.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US Senate Commerce Committee passed comprehensive bipartisan rail safety reform legislation.
Hours after the passage, Maria Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Committee, noted, “It is possible that another train would have derailed due to a bad wheel bearing. This could have been prevented had the commonsense fixes in our bill been implemented… It would have been It’s time for Congress to join in improving railroad safety.”
The legislation would require Hotbox detectors to be deployed at a rate of every 15 miles, which would reduce the current voluntary practice of installing flaw detectors at a rate of every 25 miles today.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that he looks forward to bringing the rail measure to the Senate floor “as soon as possible.”