ATLANTA — With the National Transportation Safety Board’s final report on the East Palestine, Ohio, hazardous materials wreck due out next week, Norfolk Southern is touting the safety improvements it has made so far this year.
The railroad released a midyear safety report on Monday, which outlines strides the railroad has made this year as well as since the disastrous Feb. 3, 2023, wreck near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
CEO Alan Shaw has pledged to make NS the “gold standard” in safety. “We have maintained our positive safety momentum into 2024 with year-to-date improvement across all of our core safety metrics compared to 2023 full-year performance,” Shaw wrote in the midyear report.
The number of mainline accidents fell by 30% last year, which NS says places it among the best of the Class I railroads.
The railroad’s Federal Railroad Administration reportable train accident rate has improved from 3.95 in 2023 to 3.51 in 2024 through March of this year. The main line accident rate has improved from 0.59 in 2023 to 0.42 this year.
The NTSB, which will release its final report on the wreck during a hearing in East Palestine on Tuesday, has said the derailment likely was caused by the catastrophic failure of a wheel bearing on a covered hopper car.
In the past 12 months, NS has installed 187 of a planned 259 additional hot-bearing detectors, including 17 new acoustic hot-bearing detectors. NS also has installed its first three digital train inspection portals that rely on machine learning vision to flag defects. NS has accelerated deployment of the high-tech systems, and aims to have 20 portals in service across its system by the end of 2026.
NS also became the first Class I railroad to join the FRA’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System pilot program, which allows employees to anonymously report safety incidents. NS also has ordered 2,300 new antennas that will help employees communicate more clearly with their hand-held radios.
The railroad also is implementing the recommendations made by its independent safety consultant, AtkinsRealis. Among them: Making improvements to the wayside detector help desk’s standards, processes, and responses.
“Safety is priority No. 1 at Norfolk Southern. We’re grateful to everyone who has contributed to our continuous improvement to ensure that Norfolk Southern remains a strong, sustainable and safe company for years to come,” Claude Mongeau, chair of the NS board of directors, said in a statement.
Last paragraph: “Safety is priority No. 1 at Norfolk Southern.” Well, duh, since being unsafe cost you a billion dollars, you better move safety up to job 1.