Days before the National Transportation Safety Board explains why emergency responders acted incorrectly. blow off Destroy five tank cars and burn the toxic chemicals inside East Palestine derailment accidentNorfolk Southern Railway announced Friday that it will lead an industry-wide effort to improve how such decisions are made.
The railroad has pledged to lead the effort and learn from the aftermath of this tragic derailment. Federal settlementThe NTSB Hold a public hearing They are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss what caused the Feb. 3, 2023 derailment and how to prevent similar derailments in the future.
That night, more than 30 freight cars derailed and piled up into a pile of steel, and 11 tank cars ruptured, spilling hazardous cargo and then catching fire. Three days later, responding authorities determined that one of the five PVC tank cars had to be vented and burned to prevent it from exploding.
The action caused a huge fireball in the sky above the train and plumes of thick black smoke into the sky above the town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. town Residents were forced to evacuate for several days and are still Potential health effects after that.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy He told parliament That didn’t need to happen: Experts from Oxyvinyls, the company that made the polyvinyl chloride, were confident that the feared chemical reaction that caused the tank car explosion had not occurred, she said earlier this year.
But the Ohio governor, emergency responders and hazardous materials experts who made the decision said information they received that day suggested an explosion was likely imminent and that venting and flaring was the best option, even if it could have released carcinogenic dioxins into the area.
Drew McCarty, president of a specialized services contractor hired by the railroad to deal with hazardous chemicals on the trains, said in a letter to the NTSB this spring and obtained by The Associated Press that Oxyvinyls experts on-site “disputed Oxyvinyls’ representations in Dallas and expressed surprise that polymerization was not occurring in the tank cars.” “Ultimately, the information Oxyvinyls gave us was contradictory,” McCarty said.
The chemical maker has refused to comment publicly for the past year about the situation, which is already the subject of litigation, beyond expert testimony last spring.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw He said he hopes the industry will improve how it makes such decisions, which are a last resort, to improve rail safety.
“The health and safety of the surrounding community and emergency responders are given top priority when exhaust and combustion procedures are considered,” Shaw said.
Announcing the new work group on Friday could put Norfolk Southern ahead of one of the NTSB’s recommendations due to be made on Tuesday.