The East Palestine derailment illustrates the need for some innovation and appropriate regulation to improve rail safety: Bruce Landsberg
WASHINGTON — Train wrecks are a fact of life. In an average year there will be about 1,000 derailments. Most are inconsequential but some are catastrophic.
The National Transportation Safety Board recently completed a two-day hearing in East Palestine, Ohio, to obtain more details. Several tank cars carrying vinyl chloride were vented and burned in a controlled release to prevent a potentially massive explosion. That led to a massive pollution plume that stretched for miles, prompting a widespread evacuation.
It will be years before the total extent of the damage is really known.
As the NTSB conducts its investigation, significant systemic problems are becoming apparent. There are some glaring loopholes in railroad regulations that NTSB has pointed to in the past. But the railroad industry, the Federal Railroad Administration and Congress just never seem to fully address them.
Railroads have been around for almost 200 years, but their safety regulation is unique among all modes of transportation. It’s time for some innovation and appropriate regulation.
Bruce Landsberg is the vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The American Association of Railroads is a trade group that creates most of the standards governing the rail industry. The FRA has jurisdiction in some areas, but many standards are not required and are left for individual AAR members to decide what they will adopt. The industry largely regulates itself.
Congress has chosen not to fund or empower the FRA to have the final say in too many areas. When too much regulation or self-oversight is entrusted to for-profit companies some horrendous unintended consequences may occur. Boeing and FAA’s debacle with the 737 Max comes to mind. In the railroad industry, that flawed model is largely business as usual.
Tank cars are a sore spot.
Decades ago, NTSB discovered that DOT model 111 tanks cars were prone to rupturing when carrying flammable or polluting material, with devastating results. We recommended to FRA that tank cars carrying flammable hazardous materials have more stringent requirements.
New tank cars (DOT Model 117) have much improved crash protection. Unfortunately, the companies that buy or lease the tank cars expect their investment to last 50 years or so. The less safe DOT-111 cars will continue to be used for Hazmat until December 31, 2027.
We recommended their removal from hazmat service over a decade ago. With only recommendations, not enforceable rules, maybe luck will be with you.
Another major problem is how trains are categorized. High hazard flammable trains, which have more than 20 cars containing flammable hazardous materials require special handling, with restricted speed and notification of first responders along the route – a significant logistics challenge.
However, if the train has one less Hazmat car than the rules specify, it doesn’t qualify.
The East Palestine train was not a high hazard flammable train, but it did massive damage. It only takes a couple of failed hazmat cars, way below the current requirement, to cause massive damage.
There will be many opportunities for safety improvement to come from this catastrophe. The definition for high hazard flammable trains needs to be significantly tightened, and incentives need to be implemented for using better tank cars.
The phaseout of the older tank cars is in place but will not happen for another four and one-half years. The can keeps being kicked down the road – not only on this but other critical rail regulation issues.
Naturally, there are economic trade-offs. Shipping will become a bit more expensive but free lunches don’t exist.
It may not seem like it, but East Palestine was lucky. A similar crash in Lac-Megantic, Canada in 2013 resulted in 47 fatalities and destroyed the town. A January 18, 2002, derailment in Minot, North Dakota, released anhydrous ammonia and required the evacuation of 11,600 people from their homes.
Congress, FRA, and the railroads need to step up.
Bruce Landsberg is the vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board. The views experessed here are his own, and not the conclusions of the NTSB.
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