History of Railroad Safety - Spotlight on current derailments

[Vanadium 50]

onto a third track

Thanks. That clears it up. When In was reading "the other track", I didn't realize they meant "the other other track".

 

[BillTre]

The NY Times has a clear description of the sequence of events (behind a paywall in some cases).
Stuff like this:

 

[Astronuc]

BNSF's Yellowstone River Bridge (near Reed Point, MT) is out of service after it collapsed under a BNSF train, and the parallel automobile bridge (Twin Bridges) is temporarily closed. It is a main line for BNSF between Billings and Bozeman. The bridges are located in Stillwater County, between Reed Point to the west and Columbus to the east. One could see the bridges from I-90.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/train-derails-yellowstone-river-prompting-165417989.html

https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-new...acility-plant-shutdowns-in-yellowstone-county

I appears high water (and high flow) in the Yellowstone River undermined one of the piers in the middle of the river. Attached image shows what the bridge normally looks like at low water and before the collapse.

Stillwater county is experience flooding along some streams south of Columbus, MT.

 

[berkeman]

It appears high water (and high flow) in the Yellowstone River undermined one of the piers in the middle of the river.

Ah, I missed that in my earlier news report readings today. Those reports did say that they had high waterflow recently, but it was not known if that contributed to the collapse. Still, you have to wonder how a bridge design got approved if it can be so affected by high river waterflow. It looks like a short bridge, so likely only a single center support that was pile-driven into the riverbed?

 

[Astronuc]

It looks like a short bridge, so likely only a single center support that was pile-driven into the riverbed?

I don't know. I believe it was stone and concrete. I was looking for details.

It could have been built in 1897. A similar bridge on the railroad collapsed last year (2022) in Park County.


The highway bridge was apparently demolished, which is why it does not appear in current images of the collapsed railroad bridge.
https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-new...-bridge-near-reed-point-in-danger-of-collapse
https://www.montanaoutdoor.com/2021/05/yellowstone-river-to-reopen-at-two-bridges-road-bridge/

Apparently, heavy scouring undermined the piers of the highway bridge.

Edit/update:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/train-derails-yellowstone-river-after-bridge-collapse/story?id=100356919

https://apnews.com/article/montana-bridge-collapse-train-dbd905bac1b35a63107213db7983bafc

 

[Vanadium 50]

It could have been built in 1897.

That was before the Great Molasses Disaster in 1919, after which a lot of regulations changed for the stricter.

 

[Astronuc]

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The changes railroads announced after last year’s fiery crash in East Palestine, Ohio, haven’t yet made a major difference, statistics show, and reforms have stalled in Congress.

A few key measures in the latest Federal Railroad Administration statistics, including the total number of train accidents, worsened over the first 11 months of last year compared to the same period in previous years. Meanwhile there were some improvements with other numbers, like total derailments.

https://apnews.com/article/railroad...olk-southern-bef9b47b5200f033d2f045c850745e94

What’s the industry’s safety record?​

Safety statistics are mixed for the six biggest freight railroads that dominate the industry — Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, CPKC, Canadian National and BNSF.

For the majority of 2023 the total number of train accidents increased slightly to 4,845, including more than 600 deaths.

When comparing 2022 and 2023, the total number of derailments declined about 2.6% — but there were still nearly three derailments a day nationwide. Railroads point out that roughly two-thirds of those crashes happen at slow speeds in railyards and don’t cause significant damage.

. But it costs in terms of repairs, perhaps damaged goods, and lost productivity. Severe injuries or fatalities can happen at slow speeds given the masses involved.

How many costly derailments are there?​

There were 53 major derailments last year causing damage over $1 million, a surge of nearly 33%. Norfolk Southern has said the cost of the East Palestine derailment has already topped $1.1 billion, and that total will continue to grow with cleanup costs and lawsuit settlements.

The number of total crashes caused by the same issue as the eastern Ohio derailment more than doubled nationwide last year to 19. Overheating bearing failures remain a small fraction representing less than 2% of all accidents.

I'm sure the East Palestine derailment cost NS a good chunk of their profit for 2023.

Over the past year, the railroads have agreed to provide paid sick leave to most of their workers for the first time and improve the way engineers and conductors are scheduled in order to help reduce fatigue.

Long overdue!

Last year, the major freight railroads installed hundreds of new trackside detectors to spot overheating bearings, as part of their goal of adding roughly 1,000 of those nationwide to make the average spacing between them 15 miles (24 kilometers) in most places.

All railroads will now stop trains when bearings detect a gap of more than 170 degrees from the outside air, and there are new standards to help them better track when bearings start to heat up to catch issues sooner.

Norfolk Southern also took additional steps like hiring a consultant from the nuclear power industry to review its safety practices, . . . .

 

[Astronuc]

This week, three Norfolk Southern (NS) trains were involved in a collision and derailments. It's still not clear to me, but it appears that a second eastbound train rear ended a first eastbound train that was stopped. The collision sent locomotives and a freight car down an embankment toward the Lehigh River. Other freight cars derailed into a westbound freight train, which derailed.

Three trains involved in 'collision and derailment' in eastern Pennsylvania; no injuries reported
https://news.yahoo.com/train-derailment-leaves-cars-riverbank-152515091.html


Meanwhile, a year later after the fiery derailment and chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio, the NTSB investigation revealed that the release of the vinyl chloride and subsequent burning in trenches was 'unnecessary'. The chemical company Oxy Vinyl was never consulted. First responders, contractors, and government officials decided they had to chose between 2 bad options, either an explosion or controlled release. They chose the latter, which it turns out was unnecessary, because they have a third option to wait for the pressure in the tank cars to decrease. Somebodies panicked and made bad decisions because nobody contacted the chemical company.

After Ohio train derailment, tank cars didn't need to be blown open to release chemical, NTSB says
https://news.yahoo.com/ohio-train-derailment-tank-cars-233142463.html

And so far, NS has paid $1.1 billion, and some investors want to replace the CEO.

Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that "Norfolk Southern alone should pay for cleanup of Ohio train derailment"
https://apnews.com/article/norfolk-...st-palestine-84120e55a7b7b92eb2fb69b82c3fb3eb

NS was trying to get the other parties, the tank car owner/lessor and chemical company.

The railroad had argued that companies like Oxy Vinyls that made the vinyl chloride and rail car owner GATX should share the responsibility for the damage.

The National Transportation Safety Board has said the crash was likely caused by an overheating bearing on a car carrying plastic pellets that caused the train to careen off the tracks. The railroad’s sensors spotted the bearing starting to heat up in the miles before the derailment, but it didn’t reach a critical temperature and trigger an alarm until just before the derailment. That left the crew scant time to stop the train.

https://apnews.com/article/norfolk-...st-palestine-84120e55a7b7b92eb2fb69b82c3fb3eb

I'll have to find the NTSB report, which should indicate which car (a covered hopper carrying plastic pellets) had the bad bearing which failed causing the derailment. Trackside detectors had indicated a rise in bearing temperature, but he crew decided that it did not meet the criterion to stop the train. The problem is that bearing continued to failure before the train got to the next detector, but it was too late.

Train crews are under pressure from management to keep the trains moving. Car repair crews are discouraged from flagging potentially faulty cars, and not to inspect too closely, and track maintenance crews are doing less inspection and under pressure not to report defects.

Preliminary reports: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/RRD23MR005.aspx

NTSB investigators identified and examined the first railcar to derail, the 23rd railcar in the consist. Surveillance video from a local residence showed what appeared to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment. The wheel bearing and affected wheelset have been collected as evidence and will be examined by the NTSB. The vinyl chloride tank car top fittings, including the relief valves, were also removed and examined by the NTSB on scene. The top fittings will be shipped to Texas for testing under the direction of the NTSB.

five derailed DOT-105 specification tank cars (railcars 28–31 and 55) carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride continued to concern authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was still rising. This increase in temperature suggested that the vinyl chloride was undergoing a polymerization reaction, which could pose an explosion hazard. Responders scheduled a controlled venting of the five vinyl chloride tank cars to release and burn the vinyl chloride, expanded the evacuation zone to a 1-mile by 2-mile area, and dug ditches to contain released vinyl chloride liquid while it vaporized and burned. The controlled venting began about 4:40 p.m. on February 6 and continued for several hours.

The tank cars derailed because the 23rd car had a bearing failure and derailed. The tank car owner, GATX, and chemical company, Oxy Vinyls, were not responsible.

I'm wondering who is the owner of the covered hopper with the bearing failure. Perhaps one of the other owner/lessor companies named.

 

[Astronuc]

Three trains involved in 'collision and derailment' in eastern Pennsylvania; no injuries reported
https://news.yahoo.com/train-derailment-leaves-cars-riverbank-152515091.html

Pennsylvania train crash highlights shortcomings of automated railroad braking system
https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-...comings-of-automated-railroad-braking-system/

Railroads have been adopting positive train control (PTC) to prevent derailments by collision, i.e., keep trains our the same block, unless authorized under controlled conditions. This used to be done by automatic block signaling (ABS) or trainorders (TO). But now with GPS and radio communications, it should be much easier - one would think.

ABS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_block_signaling
PTC - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_train_control
https://railroads.dot.gov/research-.../train-control/ptc/positive-train-control-ptc

Edit/update: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/RRD24FR009.aspx

 

[Astronuc]

Yesterday, Sunday, a Union Pacific intermodal train derailed in Chappell, Nebraska. There were no reproted injuries, and it does not appear to involve hazardous material. Investigation pending; it could be broken wheel or axle, a broken rail, or failure of car structure, in which the containers fall through the bottom of the car onto the track (this have happened before in a previous derailment).
https://nptelegraph.com/news/local/...cle_fc51d708-fb40-11ee-8f1d-6343da02652f.html

Today, two CSX trains crashed head-on in Folkston, Georgia. The line sees ~52 trains per day, which is a heavy usage. Apparently, one train (rock train) was stopped, and it was struck by the intermodal train. The intermodel train should not have been on an occupied track. Someone screwed up!

Trains crash in Southeast Georgia, no one hurt, traffic not affected​

https://news.yahoo.com/trains-crash-southeast-georgia-no-201524088.html

 

[berkeman]

Thank goodness no MCI and no Hazmat spills.

 

[berkeman]

This showed up in my Facebook feed today...

 

[Astronuc]

BNSF train (mixed freight manifest) derailed near Lupton, New Mexico. Two tank cars caught fire. Fire was ostensibly put out Saturday evening. Investigation underway.

NTSB initial report is months away.
https://news.yahoo.com/derailment-sparks-fire-near-arizona-011259366.html


Meanwhile, high winds derailed some cars of an intermodal train between Trent and Merkel, Texas. The railroad line runs parallel to I-20.
https://news.yahoo.com/winds-sweep-train-off-tracks-220752828.html

 

[Astronuc]

NTSB reveals cause of 2023 toxic train crash in East Palestine, Ohio​

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ntsb-reveals-cause-2023-toxic-train-crash-east/story?id=111398249

Federal investigators confirmed Tuesday that a hot railcar wheel bearing sparked a fire and caused the massive derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying tank cars with hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023. Investigators said a series of missteps, faulty track sensors and delayed communications about the train's toxic cargo from the railroad company contributed to the disaster.

In its final report on the Feb. 3, 2023, crash, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash which caused the evacuation of more than 2,000 residents and endangered the lives of first responders could have been avoided.

"Today we present our findings mindful of the challenges faced by those affected. We are here to ensure that the lessons learned from this derailment will lead to meaningful change so no other community has to relive the challenges faced by the people of East Palestine," Mike Graham, an NTSB board member, said Tuesday during a public hearing in East Palestine.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, opened the hearing by apologizing on behalf of her agency to the residents of East Palestine, saying some outside the NTSB sought to minimize the toxic threat caused by the crash because no one was killed or injured.

No one was killed or injured in the derailment, but some folks were apparently injured by exposure to toxic chemicals from the release of vinyl chloride and decision to burn the VC in a trench near the derailment.

Researchers estimate that 110 million residents in 16 states, or one-third of the nation's population, were impacted by pollution, according to a study published in the Environmental Research Letters.

In the video, the NTSB indicates that a faulty detector misreported the failed bearing which was already on fire (grease from the bearing). It appears the bearing was oriented toward the inside of the bearing near the wheel, and likely missed the true temperature which would have been greater than the reported value. Evenso, the bearing had increase in temperature by about 65°F (from 38°F to 103°F) over 10 miles between the first detector and second detector. Extrapolating over 20 miles to the third detector would mean an increase of 130°F, where the detector did record 253°F, apparently the maximum temperature it records (which implies the bearing was at a higher temperature). The train should have stopped in response to the Salem detector, 20 miles before the derailment.

Another finding mentioned by the NTSB is that 25% of the freight cars had federal defective conditions!

Communications about the hazardous cargo/lading was problematic and potential risks was problematic.

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/RRD23MR005.aspx

 

[berkeman]

Even so, the bearing had increase in temperature by about 38°F over 10 miles between the first detector and second detector. Extrapolating over 20 miles to the third detector would mean an increase of 130°F, where the detector did record 253°F, apparently the maximum temperature it records (which implies the bearing was at a higher temperature). The train should have stopped in response to the Salem detector, 20 miles before the derailment.

Oh my.

 

[Astronuc]

Oh my.

I corrected my post. The failed bearing had increased in temperature by 65°F (from 38°F to ~103°F). It was probably hotter. Still, if it had increased by 65°F over 10 miles, then it could increase by another 130°F over the next 20 miles. A rapid change is an indication of a problem.

The other finding of concern is that 25% of the freight cars had defective conditions, which indicates increased risk due to poor maintenance practices. Railroad employees have been reporting this on several of the major railroads, and some face retaliation (which is illegal) as a result.

 

[Astronuc]

NTSB says Norfolk Southern threatened agency during derailment probe
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/nt...-after-2023-ohio-train-derailment-2024-06-25/

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said Norfolk Southern threatened the board, sought to manufacture evidence and failed to provide documents during its investigation of a 2023 Ohio derailment.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in extraordinary remarks the rail carrier "delayed or failed to provide critical investigative information to our team," prompting her to warn it twice the agency would issue subpoenas to compel disclosure. She described the company's actions as "unconscionable" and "reprehensible."

The NTSB also found on Tuesday that Norfolk Southern and its contractors did not need to vent and burn hazardous materials from tank cars after a February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that it said was caused by a defective wheel bearing.

The derailment forced residents to temporarily abandon their homes after the train caught fire and released over 1 million gallons of hazardous materials and pollutants near the state's border with Pennsylvania.

 

[Astronuc]

Rail cars carrying hazardous material derailed and burst into flames Friday in a remote area of North Dakota, but officials said no one was hurt and the threat to those living nearby appeared to be minimal.

Twenty-nine cars of a CPKC train derailed around 3:45 a.m. in an area surrounded by farmland that’s about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Fargo, said Andrew Kirking, emergency management director for Foster County.

The cars were carrying anhydrous ammonia, sulfur and methanol, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality. The ammonia was the biggest risk, but wind was carrying the smoke away from the nearby town of Bordulac, which has about 20 residents.

https://apnews.com/article/train-de...north-dakota-a45add68f13836222234a5eb6e25693a

North Dakota Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Quality will have to investigate.

 

[berkeman]

https://apnews.com/article/train-de...north-dakota-a45add68f13836222234a5eb6e25693a

I hope the photographer is using a zoom lens. At least they are partially upwind...