Aftermath

Jun 01, 2023

Aug 2, 2023

The fiery Norfolk Southern derailment that wreaked havoc in and around East Palestine, Ohio last winter — as well as the derailment’s aftermath — have dispatched numerous poignant messages not only to current and future generations of NS management but also to officials of other freight railroads.

No doubt another important message/development is causing railroad watchers to ponder how it might impact, directly or indirectly, other rail carriers, possibly forever, going forward.

That new wrinkle in the Feb. 3 NS derailment story is the railroad’s recent announcement that other entities, besides itself, deserve blame for the Ohio derailment — the implication being some possibly more so than Norfolk Southern.

In an effort to back up its claim, Norfolk filed a complaint against all car owners and shippers connected to the hazardous chemicals that were being transported that February day.

How that claim will be settled or adjudicated in the months or years ahead must be left to conjecture at this time. However, the main point to be deduced from the claim in question is that much more and tougher scrutiny will have to be directed toward the freight cars Norfolk Southern’s — and other railroads’ — locomotives pull and push, before the multi-unit behemoths are assembled.

And, the freight cars’ owners seem destined to shoulder more and more of the responsibility and expense for ensuring the safety of the equipment being transported.

Like most other railroads, Norfolk Southern does not actually own most of the cars it hauls. Therefore, NS is contending that, even though its workers inspect and make repairs to cars and other equipment, as necessary, during the course of some trips, car owners and shippers need to be more responsible for trying to ensure that no problems evolve during the course of trips.

Norfolk spokesman Thomas Crosson said his railroad’s legal move by way of the claim filing does not signal a change in Norfolk Southern’s commitment to cleaning up the accident mess.

Rather, Crosson said, the complaint “seeks to ensure that others responsible for the safe transport of freight, such as railcar owners and shippers of the material being transported, contribute resources to the effort.”

Meanwhile, the total bill for the accident cleanup is expected to be about $400 million.

In an Associated Press article, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was quoted as saying that his plans include adding more trackside detectors to help spot mechanical problems.

With the railroad — indeed, the entire industry — now under intense watch because hazardous chemicals spilled in the East Palestine derailment necessitated the evacuation of thousands of people — residents now worrying about long-term negative health effects — Shaw must ensure that there are no delays in making good on his promise.

A faulty, overheated bearing on a plastic pellet car has been identified by the National Transportation Safety Board in its preliminary accident report as the likely cause of the February derailment. Norfolk Southern has accused the owner of the rail car of having failed to properly maintain it in the years before the crash.

The owner failed to follow the car manufacturer’s recommendations for taking care of the car, the railroad has alleged.

It seems certain the final chapter of the East Palestine derailment story is far from written.

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