There was an National Transportation Safety Board update to the Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, including calls for new regulation from Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and other organizations.
The NTSB investigative update released Feb. 14, the rail car responsible for the recent derailment has been examined by investigators, and evidence, including the wheelset and a suspected overheated wheel bearing, has been collected for further analysis. NTSB has surveillance video from a nearby residence showed overheating in the wheel bearing before the incident.
"We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe," Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a post on Twitter.
The tank cars involved are undergoing decontamination, and investigators plan to conduct a thorough examination once the process is complete, according to the NTSB update. Additionally, NTSB obtained locomotive event recorder data, forward- and inward-facing image recording data and wayside defect detector data.
Investigators are reviewing documentation, recording event data and conducting interviews, with a preliminary report expected to be published in two weeks, NTSB reported
The Transportation Trades Department of The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the largest federation of unions in the U.S., wrote a letter to Administrator Amit Bose Feb. 9 to express concerns about the safety of freight rail operations in the U.S. and to urge greater federal oversight.
The letter highlights the increase in derailments and incidents at rail yards since adopting the Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model by major rail corporations in 2015, resulting in cost-cutting practices compromising safety. In addition, the TTD advocates for greater use of the Confidential Close Call Reporting System, which enables employees to report safety incidents without fear of repercussion confidentially.
