At a Wednesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that in light of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, freight trains should have mandates for both inward and outward-facing image and audio recorders.
According to NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, the train involved in the East Palestine derailment was only equipped with an inward-facing camera and because it was immediately put back into service following the accident, the data from the day of the derailment was overwritten.
“Since the locomotive was put immediately back into service following the accident, the data was overwritten. That means the recorder only provided about 15 minutes of data before the derailment and five minutes after,” Homendy said.
Homendy said that all controlling locomotives on Amtrak and commuter trains must have inward- and outward-facing image recorders that can record continuously for at least 12 hours. These recorders must also be crash-and fire-resistant.
“Now is the time to expand that requirement to audio and to include the Class I freight railroads in that mandate. In fact, now is the time to address all of the NTSB’s open rail safety recommendations, many of which are on our most wanted list,” Homendy said.
According to Homendy, the information gathered from these recorders is invaluable to investigators to determine the cause of an accident and to create recommendations to prevent derailments in the future.
“Like cockpit voice recorders in aviation, audio and video recorders in the locomotive cab are essential for helping investigators determine the cause of an accident and make more precise safety recommendations,” Homendy said.
Homendy added that by implementing recorders inside train cabs it also helps operators proactively improve their safety policies and practices.
According to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) ranking member on the committee, it is “lunacy” and “very bizarre” that the video wasn’t preserved and that Norfolk Southern put the train so quickly back into service.
“Anytime there is a locomotive involved in a serious derailment it is lunacy that that video is not preserved and that locomotive is put into alternative service so that I feel confident we could get unanimity on this committee on that,” Cruz said.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw responded saying he doesn’t have the details about that but it’s his understanding that the train was shortly thereafter put back in service which overwrote a portion of the data.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Background Photo “Norfolk Southern Train” by James St. John. CC BY 2.0.
