Yet another Class I (Norfolk Southern) Derailment A Trend ?

Another one in Alabama. So here is the question. Either we hear about them in a more persistent way OR they are happening in a higher frequency. Which is it? And if there are "more" what has happened in the operations of Norfolk Southern that has built an environment or culture that promotes more of these larger derailments ? NOT being a railroad type , basically clueless; it just feels like something has changed.

Yeah, no.

From what I can tell NS always seemed to have more accidents before EP, at least in regards to derailments and collisions at crossings.

It’s not just NS we’re hearing more about though. There was a derailment in Bradenton FL a few weeks ago that also made news headlines despite being nowhere near as severe as what happened in EP.

It's big news now so each derailment is headlines. The Class I's today are large, far-flung systems and it's not unusual for there to be a derailment every couple weeks somewhere on each line.

It certainly IS a big deal when it's YOU that's evacuated and YOUR town that's on fire. But until lately, if 20 empty coal hoppers tore up a cornfield in Iowa, few people heard about it and few cared.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... 435462002/

Trains keep derailing all over the country, including Thursday in Alabama. What's going on?

DENVER – Since a fiery Ohio derailment on Feb. 3, trains have derailed in Florida, West Virginia, Michigan, Oklahoma and Nebraska. On Thursday a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Alabama, and another one hit a dump truck on Tuesday in Cleveland, killing a contractor.

Data shows these derailments are not unusual.

Every day, the nation's railroads move millions of tons of raw materials and finished goods around the country on about 140,000 miles of rails, but their safety record is getting new attention amid the ongoing scrutiny of the East Palestine derailment disaster.

Federal data from 2021 and 2022 says an average of about three trains derail in the U.S. a day. While not all derailments are equally as dramatic or dangerous, railroads are required to report any derailment that causes more than $10,700 in damage.
...

Cross posted every where.

Everyone - Since the February 3 EP derailment and aftermath there is more scrutiny from the media and
government entities - as BR&P correctly notes there were some mishaps that had little mention...

In today's climate that has certainly changed - if anything significant happens on NS (or any other
railroad) there is going to be more attention from outside entities for the foreseeable future...MACTRAXX

Uncovering the issue with the coil car wheelsets is going to take a little heat off them (no pun intended).

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ ... ory--68768

eolesen wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:37 pm Uncovering the issue with the coil car wheelsets is going to take a little heat off them (no pun intended).

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ ... ory--68768

Interestingly, WMATA's 7000 cars have been {mainly} out of service for over a year on a very similar issue.

As I've said many times, all the unions said this is what we would start seeing. We knew the PSR cuts went too far and were affecting safety. NS is in the headlines and feeling the effect of PSR, but it really could have been any of the Class 1's.

The current NS CEO looked bad in his Senate testimony, and it should have been Squires on the hot seat, but of course he just gets to walk away with his golden parachute after implementing PSR and destroying NS.

I only got to see a couple brief parts of the Senate hearing, but Mr. Shaw looked calmer than the Attorney General did a week before.

Has anyone posted to USA Today that the dump truck pulled into the path of the cars being switched at Cleveland-Cliffs.

There has been a number of incidents in Ohio in addition to the events on NS. My own plant had two fires, one during the break between Christmas and New Years when a wood dust silo ignited brought 15 departments. There was a boiler explosion in Warren at the coke plant. A foundry explosion in Bedford killed one directly, injured many and indirectly caused the deaths of 5 environmental consultants headed to Ohio from Arkansas. A stamping plant had a fire in Cleveland. A large wood lot had a fire in Geauga County on Thursday night. And to top it off, a meteorite impacted near Dayton.

After a major oil spill caused by the grounding of a Liberian oil tanker many years ago, the news outlets ran stories about similar mishaps involving other ships of Liberian registry for several weeks . At one point I was amazed that any oil tankers were left afloat ! This is the same thing . Any news of a train derailment is cherry picked off the news wire and broadcast with lurid headlines .

Not a trend, but getting a lot more notice by the public and by the news. People are sensitive to it now so it’ll get attention for a bit longer until it wanes.