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3/27/2024
The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday released a preliminary report of its investigation into a March 2 collision between two Norfolk Southern Railway intermodal trains and a subsequent collision involving a freight train near Easton, Pennsylvania.
The accident involved an eastbound NS train that collided with a stopped NS intermodal train on the same track and derailed rail cars that were subsequently struck by a westbound NS mixed freight train in the Allentown Road Subdivision.
Some of the derailed cars were placarded as hazardous materials tank cars: one containing ethanol residue and two containing butane residue. The tank cars did not breach or release hazardous materials. The two derailed locomotives partially submerged in the Lehigh River and discharged locomotive diesel fuel into the water. Seven crew members were transported to a local hospital, treated for minor injuries and released, according to the report.
The investigation is ongoing. The preliminary report can be read here.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its investigation report into the Oct. 16, 2021, derailment of a Canadian Pacific freight train. The train, hauling 200 freight cars loaded with potash, was proceeding south on the Lanigan Subdivision when it experienced a train-initiated emergency brake application near Silton, Saskatchewan.
The train came to a stop and a subsequent inspection by the conductor determined that 27 freight cars had derailed into a large pile. Many had been breached and their contents subsequently released. There were no injuries, and no dangerous goods were involved, according to the TSB.
The investigation determined that the train derailed when the west rail broke as a result of preexisting fatigue cracks that had spread down to the base of the rail in a sudden overstress as the train passed over it.
The frequency of rail flaw detection (RFD) testing on the Lanigan Subdivision exceeded regulatory requirements, according to the TSB. Testing was performed shortly before the accident and no rail defects were identified. While RFD testing is a reliable and cost-effective method to detect rail flaws, its accuracy is limited by current technology and other factors such as rail surface conditions and the size and type of defects.
Given these limitations, rails with internal defects can sometimes be misclassified as free of defects, increasing the risk of failure and subsequent derailment, TSB officials said.
On July 29, 2022, CP implemented a Rail Integrity Non-Vital Overlay Detectors system on the Lanigan Subdivision, which sends automatic notifications to CP’s Operations Center in the event of a broken rail, rail gap, loose joint, or rail joint pull-apart. The notifications provide advance warnings that allow the Operations Center to stop a train before it encounters any such track discontinuities in non-signaled territory.
To read the TSB report, click here.