Vinyl chloride spill in PA
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Anti Federalist
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tl;dr - Three defect detectors picked up rising heat on the axles of car 23. By the time the temps got to alarm status, the engineer was already slowing the train, but it was too late. The "hotbox" axle and bearing seized and the car derailed, leading to the following cars derailing.
Hot box warning came too late for Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Ohio (updated)
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...norfolk-southern-train-that-derailed-in-ohio/
By Bill Stephens | February 23, 2023
Wayside detectors recorded increasing temperatures in the 30 miles prior to derailment in East Palestine, NTSB says in first report on accident
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Burned out tank cars and tank truck in muddy area
Cleanup of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in progress on Feb. 8, 2023. Sol Tucker
WASHINGTON — Norfolk Southern hot box detectors recorded increasing wheel bearing temperatures on the car suspected of causing the disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the National Transportation Board said today in its preliminary report on the Feb. 3 wreck.
But the temperature readings never reached the critical threshold that would have tripped an alarm and required the crew to stop the train — until moments before the derailment, when merchandise train 32N passed the detector at milepost 49.81 in East Palestine.
“Train 32N passed three [hot box detector] systems on its trip before the derailment,” the report states. “At MP 79.9, the suspect bearing from the 23rd car had a recorded temperature of 38°F above ambient temperature. When train 32N passed the next HBD, at MP 69.01, the bearing’s recorded temperature was 103°F above ambient. The third HBD, at MP 49.81, recorded the suspect bearing’s temperature at 253°F above ambient.”
The East Palestine detector alerted the crew with an audible message instructing them to stop the train to inspect the hot axle. Because 32N was closely following a train, the engineer was already slowing the train with dynamic brakes when the alert was sounded.
“The train engineer increased the dynamic brake application to further slow and stop the train,” the NTSB said. “During this deceleration, an automatic emergency brake application initiated, and train 32N came to a stop.”
The emergency brake application was triggered by the derailment as air brake hoses separated.
At 8:54 p.m. 38 of the train’s 149 cars derailed on main track 1. The train was operating with two locomotives on the head end and a distributed power unit between cars 109 and 110. The 9,309-foot train was moving at 47 mph in 50-mph territory at the time of the derailment.
The 17,977-ton consist included 20 placarded hazardous materials tank cars transporting combustible liquids, flammable liquids, and flammable gas, including vinyl chloride, the NTSB said.
First responders put out the resulting fire by Feb. 5, but five derailed DOT-105 tank cars carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride concerned authorities because the temperature inside one of the cars was still rising.
“This increase in temperature suggested that the vinyl chloride was undergoing a polymerization reaction, which could pose an explosion hazard. Responders scheduled a controlled venting of the five vinyl chloride tank cars to release and burn the vinyl chloride, expanded the evacuation zone to a 1-mile by 2-mile area, and dug ditches to contain released vinyl chloride liquid while it vaporized and burned,” the NTSB said. “The controlled venting began about 4:40 p.m. on February 6 and continued for several hours.”
The controlled burn caused the huge plume of black smoke that rose above the town.
NTSB investigators have identified and examined the first railcar to derail, a covered hopper carrying plastic pellets. It was the 23rd car in the consist.
“Surveillance video from a local residence showed what appeared to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the NTSB said. “The wheel bearing and affected wheelset have been collected as evidence and will be examined by the NTSB. The vinyl chloride tank car top fittings, including the relief valves, were also removed and examined by the NTSB on scene. The top fittings will be shipped to Texas for testing under the direction of the NTSB.”
The NTSB is searching for additional surveillance video footage that may have been taken at businesses and homes along the NS Fort Wayne Line. Investigators also want to pinpoint the precise location of the video that showed the flaming truck of the hopper car.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, speaking at a news conference today, said there was no evidence that track defects, operational issues, or the actions of the crew played a role in the derailment.
The NTSB says its investigation will focus on the wheelset and bearing that failed; tank car design and derailment damage; a review of the accident response, including the venting and burning of the vinyl chloride; railcar design and maintenance procedures and practices; NS use of wayside defect detectors; and NS railcar inspection practices.
“We know what derailed the train,” Homendy said of the catastrophic wheel bearing failure. But the investigation will take 12 to 18 months because the NTSB has a lot of questions, which leads to additional questions, as part of its methodical probe.
The NTSB will conduct a rare investigative field hearing this spring, Homendy said. Field hearings allow the board to hear from invited witnesses, discuss what occurred, and how to prevent similar accidents, she explained.
The derailment and its aftermath have become a political football, with Republicans saying the Biden administration hasn’t done enough to help displaced residents and Democrats saying the Trump administration backed off on much-needed safety regulations.
Homendy was asked what she thought of former President Trump’s visit to East Palestine. “Enough with the politics on this. Enough with the politics. I don’t understand why this has gotten so political. This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics … this is about addressing their needs, their concerns,” she said.
“Safety is the only thing we care about,” she added. “Politics is left at the door.”
Homendy applauded Department of Transportation recommendations, made this week, that railroads provide first responders with real-time information about hazardous materials that are being hauled through their communities. The hazardous materials placards on the tank cars that derailed in East Palestine melted in the fire, she noted, so first responders initially did not know what they contained.
Homendy said people need to know whether they live or work near a hazmat route so that they can better recognize and respond to an emergency in the event of a toxic release.
NS CEO Alan Shaw appeared on a CNN town hall meeting last night, where residents of East Palestine were able to question him, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and state health officials.
Based on feedback from residents, NS has modified its plans to remove contaminated soil beneath its tracks at the derailment site. Work has begun on one track.
“Our original plan would have effectively and safely remediated the soil under our tracks. As I listened to community members over the past two weeks, they shared with me their concerns about that approach,” Shaw said in a statement. “I appreciate the direct feedback, and I am addressing it. In coordination with Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies, we are changing our remediation plan to temporarily remove the tracks so we can excavate the soil. It is important to me that the members of this community have confidence in Norfolk Southern’s remediation efforts and that we are working closely with local, state, and federal agencies.”
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Anti Globalist
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Anti Federalist
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Those broads are toxic.
And that's where millions of white women get their news and voting habits from.
They are also factually ignorant:
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acptulsa
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acptulsa
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This derailment was the result of a bearing gone bad. Car knockers used to have several ways to detect those, sight, sound, smell. Now there are hotbox detectors, which watch for them by feeling for heat.
We were talking before the strike was settled by force about whether these unions have a point when they say too much automation is dangerous.
Anti Federalist
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Having only one man to monitor and operate consists of this size is nuts.
In the oilfield it took lawsuits to increase manning, after a number of deadly incidents.
Maybe that will be the fallout from this incident.
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Vance, Others Introduce Bipartisan Railway Safety Bill in Aftermath of East Palestine Derailment
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/...ll-in-aftermath-of-east-palestine-derailment/
NICK GILBERTSON 1 Mar 2023
Six U.S. Senators introduced legislation Wednesday to improve safety on the nation’s railways following the devastating train derailment and “controlled” chemical burn in East Palestine, Ohio.
Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2023, which would achieve the following, according to Vance’s office:
Enhance safety procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials by:
Including new safety requirements and procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials like vinyl chloride
Requiring rail carriers to provide advance notification and information to state emergency response officials about what they are transporting
Creating new requirements to prevent blocked railroad crossings
Mitigating derailment risk with rules for train size and weight
Reduce the risk of wheel bearing failures by:
Establishing requirements for wayside defect detectors
Requiring trains carrying hazardous materials to be scanned by hotbox detectors every 10 miles
Strengthening inspection requirements for rail cars of trains carrying hazardous materials
Require well-trained, two-person crews aboard every train
Force rail carriers to face heightened fines for wrongdoing by:
Substantially increasing the maximum fines USDOT can issue for safety violations
Support communities impacted by rail disasters by:
Expanding HAZMAT training grants for local law enforcement and first responders through increased registration fees paid by Class I railroads
Invest in future safety improvements by:
Providing $22,000,000 to the Federal Railroad Administration for research and development grants regarding wayside defect detectors and other rail priorities
Providing $5,000,000 to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for expenses related to developing stronger tank car safety features
“Through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine will never happen again,” said Vance. “We owe every American the peace of mind that their community is protected from a catastrophe of this kind.”
He added that while these measures aim to prevent another calamity, the well-being and needs of those in the East Palestine area should remain the top priority:
Action to prevent future disasters is critical, but we must never lose sight of the needs of the Ohioans living in East Palestine and surrounding communities. One day, the TV cameras will leave, and the news cycle will move on, but the needs of those Ohioans will remain. I will never stop fighting to deliver the support they need.
“What happened in East Palestine was a horrific tragedy,” Hawley said in a statement. “The safety regulations governing our nation’s railroads must be updated to ensure that a disaster like this never happens again.”
Fetterman checked himself into a hospital several weeks ago for “clinical depression,” and on Monday, his communications director, Joe Calvello, said the senator was still “working with the wonderful doctors.” Breitbart News has reached out to his office inquiring if he remains in the hospital and if he made the decision to cosponsor the bill from the hospital, but his office did not immediately respond.
Brown excused President Joe Biden’s absence from East Palestine in the wake of the tragedy, as Breitbart News reported on Tuesday. His comments came in response to a question during a press gaggle:
I don’t know if the President himself coming particularly matters, but I do know that his focus, I’ve talked to him. He called me from Warsaw to talk about what are we not doing that we need to do. I talked to his staff more than to him, but the staff or him twice three times a week, holding their feet to the fire and making sure they’re doing what they should be doing. So, whether he comes here or not is not, I don’t think, is a particularly big deal. Whether we are, his focus is on here and will continue to be.
However, East Palestine Mayor Trent R. Conaway feels differently than Sherrod. During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s Jesse Waters Tonight on February 20, Conway said Biden’s presence in Ukraine instead of East Palestine last week “was the biggest slap in the face.”
“That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us. So, he can send every agency he wants to, but I found that out this morning in one of the briefings that he was in…Ukraine, giving millions of dollars away to people over there, and not to us, and I’m furious,” he added.
Sherrod did express comfort knowing that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had made a visit on February 3, though it came 20 days after the initial derailment and 17 days after the “controlled” burn of vinyl chloride. A day prior, former President Donald J. Trump went to the town with truckloads of water and bought food for everyone who was inside an East Palestine McDonald’s.
“We’re going to take care of the fire department, we’re going to take care of the police department, plus the people that are in here. They’re going to get a nice, free meal,” Trump was heard telling the McDonald’s cashier.
Conaway was grateful for Trump’s presence.
“We as a community would like to thank President Trump for coming up here and shedding some light on the situation we are currently in,” he said.
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tebowlives
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The worst thing about all this, the cost of PVC pipe will go up.
Don't give them ideas.
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Note for those trying to keep the facts straight: Yes, Norfolk Southern said they identified a certain batch of railcars with wheels which don't attach to the axles securely enough. This can cause the distance between them on the axle to change, and that will certainly cause a derailment. Some outlets make it sound like these cars are owned by Norfolk Southern, but some or all of them might belong to someone else. And nobody has said that any of them were involved in the E. Palestine wreck. They were in a non-toxic derailment in Springfield, Ohio.
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God damn it...we can't even press wheels onto the axle shafts properly anymore???
That's how railroad rolling stock, both locomotives and cars, have had the wheels attached, for over 180 years by machined interference press fitting.
All of a sudden now they are falling the fuck off???
I'm really sick of living in a dying empire.
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