EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw made his second visit to East Palestine today (Saturday, Feb. 18), visiting the ongoing cleanup from the Feb. 3 derailment and chemical release, as well as meeting with Mayor Trent Conaway, U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, and other officials.
WBKN-TV reports Shaw said the controlled release of vinyl chloride, which remains a point of contention, was the correct one and that it prevented “a much riskier event” because of the chemical involved. He also said that if the tracks that were laid down to restore service through East Palestine need to be removed to clean up contaminated soil underneath, NS will do it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said the railroad failed to properly dispose of contaminated soil in the process of reopening its rail line [see “Norfolk Southern plans wells …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 14, 2023].
“This has been devastating to this community,” Shaw said, according to WBKN. “I want to make sure you understand, I am terribly sorry that this happened to the community. Norfolk Southern is fully committed to doing what’s right for this community.”
Also, Norfolk Southern has set up a website to address the East Palestine situation, including Shaw’s open letter to the community, updates on environmental cleanup, information on the railroad’s Family Assistance Center, and other community information.
The latest environmental update, issued Friday, says the railroad has now removed more than a million gallons of contaminated water and more than 9,000 tons of contaminated debris and soil.
What I’d like to know is how 38 cars ended up in the pileup. Modern air brakes with each car propagating a dump in the next should have stopped the train sooner.
Also what was the spacing of detectors on the line; did a detector find the axle that was sparking in the videos. If not, why not?
Were the detectors functioning? Had NS furloughed enough inspectors that they were unable to perform the required tests as thoroughly as they should?
Couple comments on this terrible tragedy:
1) stuff happens
2) America needs to use (and move) lots of “hazardous materials” in order to maintain our standard of living
3) stuff happens, yet rail is still safer than equivalent trucks of haz mat on the highways
4) there are no “pipelines” to deliver vinyl chloride to plants that use it
5) liberal idiots, are just that: idiots
6) most “talking heads” on TV (BOTH sides of the aisle) are complete and total idiots
7) NS NOT showing up at town hall because they were “afraid” for their employees safety was total “bull$&@?” (Thank Gid Shaw saw the light, but a little late, billions of $$ will be expended in lawsuits.
8) EPA Admin Regan showed up and was a joke, hardhat and high viz, no safety glasses, basically an idiot (out of OSHA compliance
9) Mayor Bootycall was a no show, and was even worse than 5, 6, 7, 8 above.
10) FEMA can’t respond because it hasn’t been designated a disaster (Brandon us wandering around in the “Rose Garden” with an ice cream cone.
Jesus, what a mess.
Thanks Michael, I’m just feeling happy I’m not the only one on these pages who believes Nos. 1, 2, 3 4, FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE, 6, 7 8, 9 and 10.
Great post Michael.
Oh and BTW liberals (who are IDIOTS) hate pipeline so even if there were a pipeline for hazardous chemicals liberals (who are IDIOTS) would demand these be put on trains.
Alan Jones is exactly correct in his remarks. NS should do everything it takes to put things right and back in a pre-accident condition that will give the local residents the confidence that the community will be safe for them to live in for as long as they live there. If it were me, I’d move somewhere else farther away from the site and expect N.S. to pay for the move.
But let me say this – as a retired transportation safety engineer with 55 years of trying to keep people safe on the U.S. transportation network of highways, railroads and flyways, when moving dangerous goods of any kind, railroads are the only place for them – as long as the rail lines and equipment are maintained to the highest level possible.
We certainly don’t need any more than necessary, such as only local delivery of the highly explosive and flammable materials travelling North America’s highway network, of exposing millions of travelers to being involved in a very serious and non-survivable vehicle accident.
In the U.S., we lose approximately 40,000 people a year to traffic accidents. A total waste of lives that could be reduced if only those that are not paying attention, drinking and driving or properly maintaining control of their vehicles would take responsibility for their driving to the highest degree.
The only way “doing the right thing” will happen is if this preventable disaster costs NS billions, crimping share buybacks and forcing increased capital spending on safety.
Unfortunately Mayo Pete and Amtrak Joe are definitely not the people to get this done; there is too much campaign money at stake. Only class action lawyers representing plaintiffs can make the class 1s take safety seriously.
I’m not a Trump fan, but it sure is interesting that Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw didn’t come to East Palestine until AFTER Trump announced his visit. JD Vance was there in short order. Where is Mayo Pete and Amtrak Joe.
Agree with most of Mr. Roche’s comments. It’s a small disaster and everyone at every level was unprepared. The response was embarrassing.
Hopefully we can all learn from this accident.
There has to be some sort of compromise position. Better response by States, localities and FEMA not the EPAs. We can’t just leave it up to the lawyers.
I was also hoping for more in-depth coverage from trains.com magazine. Things like train length, manifest, crew, conditions and MOW info in the area.
Right step forward for the NS CEO. A day or two late, but a positive step none the less. Get the lawyers out of the way and let the company do the right thing.
In this case NS needs to act as quickly as possible to remove the dirty dirt and contaminated water. As we have all seen any RR acts as quickly as possible to restore service on tracks when any thing disrupts service on tracks. NS may drive sheet pilings down between tracks. Also buy any necessary real estate outside the owned ROW.
Then NS will be able to dig down as far as necessary and as far away from ROW to remove any contaminated soil / water. Then reestore with clean dirt. Replace that track and proceed to repeat under other track on other side of ROW. Unfortunately IMO NS could not do the above immediately.
Emergency responses that will occurr both on RRs and other transportation incidents need new laws and planning to mitigate when the next incident will happen. Years past our local interstate had a very minor spill that fourtunately only closed it for several hours. Less than 100 gallons but if it had been much larger quantity ???
Couple comments on this terrible tragedy:
1) stuff happens
2) America needs to use (and move) lots of “hazardous materials” in order to maintain our standard of living
3) stuff happens, yet rail is still safer than equivalent trucks of haz mat on the highways
4) there are no “pipelines” to deliver vinyl chloride to plants that use it
5) liberal idiots, are just that: idiots
6) most “talking heads” on TV (BOTH sides of the aisle) are complete and total idiots
7) NS NOT showing up at town hall because they were “afraid” for their employees safety was total “bull$&@?” (Thank Gid Shaw saw the light, but a little late, billions of $$ will be expended in lawsuits.
8) EPA Admin Regan showed up and was a joke, hardhat and high viz, no safety glasses, basically an idiot (out of OSHA compliance
9) Mayor Bootycall was a no show, and was even worse than 5, 6, 7, 8 above.
10) FEMA can’t respond because it hasn’t been designated a disaster (Brandon us wandering around in the “Rose Garden” with an ice cream cone.
What a mess.