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The crew of a Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, became aware of an overheated axle just moments before the wreck and tried to stop the train, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.
The board released initial findings from its investigation three weeks after a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed and spilled chemicals into the air, water and soil. Five of the derailed cars contained vinyl chloride, which Norfolk Southern officials discharged through a controlled release to prevent an explosion.
Residents and local leaders are worried about the longtime health consequences of the train crash, fire and spill. But experts and national authorities largely minimized the health concerns, essentially saying the derailment and toxic spill on Feb. 3 isn’t a full-scale environmental disaster such as Love Canal or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
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As crew members tried to slow down train, automatic brakes kicked in
As the train traveled through East Palestine on Feb. 3, a hot bearing detector along the railroad issued an alarm instructing the crew to slow down and stop to inspect a hot axle, according to the NTSB report. The train was traveling about 47 mph at the time of the derailment, below the maximum speed of 50 mph.
As crew members tried to slow the train down, automatic brakes kicked in and brought it to a full stop.
The train passed two other hot bearing detectors miles before reaching East Palestine, but the recorded temperatures weren’t yet critical. The bearing was 253 degrees above ambient temperature at the time of the alert.
Investigators obtained local surveillance footage that showed the bearing on the brink of failure before the derailment.
The report released Thursday is just preliminary. NTSB officials will continue to investigate the incident, with a focus on the wheel bearing, tank car design and accident response, including the venting and burning of vinyl chloride. Investigators will also look into Norfolk Southern’s use of defect detectors and how they inspect their trains.
Read the full report here:
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
Contributing: Trevor Hughes and Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
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