NTSB Convenes Hearing in Eastern Palestine to Investigate Train Derailment
This has been announced by the National Transportation Safety Board thousands of pages of documents on Thursday about the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, providing the most complete account to date of what led to the accident.
The agency released a wealth of documents ahead of a two-day hearing in eastern Palestine beginning Thursday morning that will examine several aspects of the derailment and subsequent relief efforts, including the decision to conduct controlled burning of some toxic chemicals that the train was carrying.
The NTSB held a community meeting Wednesday evening to answer questions from residents, and the agency’s president, Jennifer Homendy, opened the hearing Thursday morning with a message for those affected by the derailment.
“Just know that we are all thinking of you, not just during this hearing, not just during the investigation, but long after our final board report is out,” she said.
The NTSB had previously said that a wheel bearing on one of the train cars had overheated as the 149-car train passed through Ohio on Feb. 3. left the tracks and how officials reacted to the derailment and the fire that followed.
According to the documents, part of the rail car’s wheelset came loose, leading to the derailment. The overheated wheel bearing was found just over 100 feet away from the point of derailment in a small wooded area and had “extensive thermal damage”.
According to the Security Council, 38 cars eventually derailed, including 11 with hazardous substances.
In the aftermath of the accident and controlled burn, officials said they had not detected dangerous levels of chemicals in the air or the municipal water system. But some people experienced symptoms such as rashes and headaches, leading residents to worry about potential long-term health risks from the release of toxic chemicals.
The Justice Department sued Norfolk Southern in March over the derailment, and the NTSB opened a special investigation into the company’s safety practices. The derailment has also sparked a bipartisan effort in Congress to pass new railroad safety legislation. At a Senate hearing in March, Norfolk Southern general manager Alan H. Shaw told lawmakers he was “deeply sorry” for the fallout from the derailment.
Daniel McGraw contributed reporting from East Palestine, Ohio.