Federal Railroad Administration Releases High-Hazard Flammable Train Route Assessment
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
David C. Lester
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a report of track and tank car inspection ordered in the wake of the Norfolk Southern East Palestine derailment on February 3, 2023.
After the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio last year, U.S. Secretary of Transportation directed the FRA to prepare a report to 1) inspect lines over which flammable and hazardous materials routinely travel on the railroads’ national network and 2) perform a focused inspection of legacy DOT-111 tank cars and the shippers and car owners that have not upgraded to the more robust DOT-117 specification tank cars. The official name of the report is the Federal Railroad Administration High-Hazard Flammable Train Route Assessment and Legacy Tank Car Focused Inspection Program.
The report said that the railroads’ methods for handling equipment and track were in compliance with Federal Regulations. However, the report did say “The inconsistencies identified in railroads’ processes and procedures for handling wayside detector data and alerts would benefit from the development of shared best practices related to the inspection and maintenance policies and procedures related to wayside detectors. Similarly, the current lack of detector data information sharing among railroads is preventing individual railroads from identifying trends in equipment condition as equipment is interchanged between railroads. This lack of information sharing may lead to defective equipment continuing in transportation until catastrophic failure.”
You can access and download the report at the link above.
