This photo taken with a drone shows the continuing cleanup of portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East Palestine, Ohio, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.
Gene J. Puskar | AP
Hours after a 28-car Norfolk Southern train derailed Saturday in Springfield, Ohio — the third incident for the freight railroad in just over a month, including the toxic disaster in East Palestine, Ohio — internal emails show railroad officials making broad safety adjustments for rail cars.
An internal Norfolk Southern email sent Sunday and obtained by CNBC with a time stamp approximately 11 hours after the latest derailment indicated that Norfolk Southern was planning to reduce train length in an effort to prevent future incidents. Sources tell CNBC the email was given to Norfolk Southern yard managers, who are union workers in charge of stacking the trains.
A Norfolk Southern spokesman told CNBC that guidance has since been updated and the train carrier is now mandating that any trains over 10,000 feet use distributed power, meaning the trains would be powered from several locations across the length of the train, not just from the front. Distributed locomotives are wirelessly controlled from the leading locomotive in both power and braking as needed.
Norfolk Southern told CNBC other railroad carriers currently have this safety practice in place.
“At Norfolk Southern, the safety of our crews and the communities we serve comes first,” Connor Spielmaker, spokesman for Norfolk Southern, wrote via email. “Part of enhancing safety is continuously evaluating how we operate our network, and we have been examining immediate ways to move that goal forward. Today, as an interim step, we are ensuring all trains longer than 10,000 feet are operated with distributive power. We will build on this interim change to drive final policies that are appropriate for each segment of our railroad.”
Norfolk Southern told CNBC it is actively reviewing all safety protocols to make sure…
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