Buttigieg to Class Is: Sign up for close-call reporting system

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is asking railroads to sign up by the end of the week for the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS) that would encourage rail employees to report safety hazards without fear of reprisal.

The request comes in response to the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railway train in East Palestine, Ohio, that resulted in a fire and the spill of dangerous chemicals. On Feb. 21, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced several actions that NS and other Class Is should take immediately to improve rail safety, including enrolling in C3RS.

The Federal Railroad Administration sponsors the voluntary confidential program allowing railroads and their employees to report close calls. NASA acts as the independent third party and maintains the data for the system.

Amtrak and many commuter railroads and short lines have signed up for the reporting system, but not a single Class I has done so, Buttigieg said in a Feb. 27 letter to NS President and CEO Alan Shaw.

"I am asking you to join the C3RS program now, even as our department proceeds to take appropriate steps toward making this program mandatory," Buttigieg wrote, adding that he’s sending similar letters to the other Class Is. The secretary said he wanted confirmation from the Class Is by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are gearing up for inquiries related to the derailment. Yesterday, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chair Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for information on its actions since the derailment.

Graves and Nehls, along with other Republican members of the T&I committee, asked EPA Administrator Michael Regan for documents and communications that describe EPA’s role in responding to the derailment, the decision-making process supporting the controlled vent and burn, the steps implemented to ensure surrounding communities’ safety, the types of monitoring employed to assess environmental quality, the legal authorities utilized by EPA, and any communications with the Federal Emergency Management Agency related to the granting of a disaster declaration.

Despite the EPA’s claims that air and water inside the derailment evacuation zone are safe, East Palestine residents have continued to voice concerns about the safety of returning to normal living in their community, the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Regan.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) yesterday called on Shaw to testify before Congress to explain “what went wrong” to cause the derailment.

"The fault for this disaster lies first with Norfolk Southern," Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor and in a post on Twitter. Shaw and the company need to explain how they’ll prevent it in the future and why the railroad “lobbied to loosen regulations” for rail safety, Schumer said.