PITTSBURGH — A broken rail which led to a 2018 derailment of a Norfolk Southern container train in Pittsburgh had been identified weeks before the accident, but nothing was done about it, according to a Federal Railroad Administration report.
The Aug. 5, 2018, derailment closed the NS main line for several days, caused more than $1 million in damage to equipment and the NS line, and saw derailed cars fall onto a light-rail line below, leading to a three-week disruption in light rail and more than $1.8 million in infrastructure damage. [See “NS intermodal train crashes next to Pittsburgh tourist hot spot,” Trains News Wire, Aug, 5, 2018, and “Pittsburgh authority bills NS $3 million for derailment repairs,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 7, 2019.]
While a visual inspection of the track two days before the derailment did not find a defect, the report issued last week says the broken rail was identified in scan responses and two camera images from a July 16, 2018, ultrasound inspection by Sperry Rail Service, but no followup test was performed.
The FRA report agreed with an earlier NS conclusion that the derailment was caused by a broken rail, but added that “the Sperry car chief operator’s decisions … contributed to the cause of the derailment.
“Rail testing experts agree that the operator should have performed an hand test, based on the multiple sources of rail inspection information available … during the Sperry car test. The operator’s decisions to disregard induction channel responses from the initial test and not utilize the camera images were serious oversights.”
In a statement to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, NS said, “The FRA report is factually accurate. Norfolk Southern has been working with Sperry on improved human procedures and oversight to ensure that this type of error does not happen again.” Sperry declined to comment, telling the paper it does not take calls from reporters.
I wonder if Sperry or NS has production standards (e.g. so many miles tested in so many hours) that limit the time an Operator has to stop and do hand tests. The Operator would then have to limit the hand tests he/she can do.
Reminds me of the Lifelock TV commercial about a bank robbery. It doesn’t help to know about the problem if nobody does anything about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8FNVsbnwWE
Samuel Walker,
Sperry Rail Services is used by all railroads to perform track inspections as there aren’t enough railroad employed inspectors to do so…2 failures in the over 85 years the company has been in business is pretty damned good, and certainly not a reason for any railroad to not hire them.
My memory is that in 2006 a derailment west of Conway yard at a bridge over the Beaver river at New Brighton of an eastbound ethanol train was due to a broken previously inspected rail by Sperry and then the Sperry crew did not do the additional testing as required. Ethanol tank cars ignited but the resulting fire happened within steep embankments of the Beaver river. As a result, property damage to New Brighton, PA was not significant. Maybe Sperry Rail Service should not be used by NS?