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NTSB proposes sweeping safety changes after 2023 Ohio train derailment

The National Transportation Security Board opened a conference Tuesday to identify the probable cause of a February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio and is making sweeping recommendations to improve rail security.

The derailment required residents to briefly abandon their homes after the train ignited and released over a million gallons of dangerous products and pollutants near the state's. border with Pennsylvania. Last month, Norfolk Southern accepted. pay a $15 million civil penalty and $57.1 million in past. federal government cleanup costs, as well as millions in future costs to. resolve a U.S. federal government suit.

NTSB personnel desire the Federal Railway Administration to. set new security regulations for inspections and maintenance of. heat bearing detectors, likewise called box detectors or wayside. detectors. The devices recognize prospective train security concerns by. determining temperature as they pass.

Board staff likewise desires USDOT to develop a replacement. schedule to stop using tank cars like some in the Ohio. derailment and change them with more recent, safer tank automobiles. The. NTSB personnel likewise wants the state of Ohio to improve volunteer. firemen training standards and to speed transmittal of. info to emergency responders about hazardous materials.

Under a proposed approval decree approximated to be worth. more than $310 million, the railroad also consented to significant. safety improvements and training, that includes installing. extra gadgets to find overheated wheel bearings early. enough to avoid derailments like the Ohio derailment. Norfolk. Southern says under the contract it will invest $244 million on. safety efforts through 2025.

The event stimulated public outrage and calls for. railroad security reforms in Congress however legislation has stalled. Some lawmakers had actually said they wished to wait for NTSB's report. before acting upon security modifications.

Norfolk Southern, which did not admit wrongdoing, said last. month the offer implies the company will face no criminal charges. and the settlement is included in the around $1.7 billion in. associated charges to date for the event. It included the. settlement will not need it to take additional charges.

In April, Norfolk Southern agreed to pay $600 million to. settle a class action suit over the derailment. The. settlement covers personal injury claims from locals and. organizations in the city and impacted surrounding communities.

(source: Reuters)