The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday that Norfolk Southern’s proposed safety goals are “not robust enough,” after the railroad giant suffered a series of recent accidents that included the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in rural Ohio.
The CEO of Norfolk Southern, Alan Shaw, testified in the Senate on Thursday – more than a month after one of the company’s trains carrying 20 cars containing hazardous materials derailed in the small Ohio town of East Palestine, creating a fire disaster that threatened the health and safety of residents.
The company has also come under scrutiny after another freight train derailed earlier this month near Springfield, Ohio. Last Tuesday, Norfolk Southern said one of its conductors was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, when he was “struck by a dump truck while a Norfolk Southern train was crossing” at a steel facility.
Shaw promised senators on Thursday that Norfolk Southern would clean up the East Palestine site “safely, thoroughly and quickly.” He also said he was committed to improving the company’s safety culture, but refused to commit to some of the safety-specific actions that lawmakers have given him.
On Sunday, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said Shaw’s efforts to set safety targets did not meet the board’s standards.
“He’s not strong enough,” she told ABC’s “This Week.” “I think we will see more recommendations as part of the investigation.”
The NTSB, which investigates transportation accidents, launched a special investigation last week into Norfolk Southern to look into what it called the company’s “organizational and safety culture.” The board said the East Palestine derailment occurred due to overheated wheel bearings.
In addition to the railroad’s recent accidents, the board is also looking into three additional Norfolk Southern incidents — two fatalities in 2021 and 2022, as well as last year’s train derailment in Sandusky, Ohio.
Homendy said the NTSB this week will test the valve responsible for releasing pressure from five vinyl chloride cars on the train that derailed in East Palestine. The train was carrying hundreds of thousands of kilograms of vinyl chloride, a chemical linked to various cancers.
“We’ll see what happens from the test,” he said. “We may have recommendations at the broader end.”