NTSB drops National Steel Car as party to NS derailment investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board announced April 17 it's removing National Steel Car as a party to the investigation into a March 4 Norfolk Southern Railway train derailment near Springfield, Ohio.

The NTSB said National Steel Car violated the terms of the agency’s party agreement by releasing investigative information that had not yet been fully vetted or confirmed by the NTSB, board officials said in a press release.

In an April 14 statement, National Steel Car said its steel coil wheelsets were cleared from involvement in the derailment. However, the NTSB has not ruled out the role that the wheelsets may or may not have played in the derailment at this point in the investigation, NTSB officials said.

For decades, the NTSB investigators have used the party system to enable the sharing of factual investigative information early in an investigation. Constraints on the release of information by party members exist to prevent the uncoordinated release of investigative information, NTSB officials said.

"This sharing of information ensures a party to an investigation has sufficient information to take any immediate actions necessary to ensure safety," they added.

Meanwhile, the NTSB announced it's conducting a safety investigation of an April 16 collision between two Union Pacific Railroad trains that resulted in a derailment in Chico, Texas. The agency also has issued its preliminary report of an ongoing investigation of the March 30 BNSF Railway Co. freight train derailment involving 23 rail cars in Raymond, Minnesota.