Transportation
Norfolk Southern Disregarded Safety Rules in Ohio, Union Warned US in 2022
- Railroad didn’t follow own internal rules, complaint alleged
- The company defended its ‘extensive’ railway sensor network
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More than six months before February’s toxic train derailment, a union representing Norfolk Southern Corp. employees in Ohio warned federal regulators that the railroad repeatedly disregarded its own safety rules for screening trains.
A formal complaint to the Federal Railroad Administration alleged the railroad had disregarded internal company rules requiring trains hauling hazardous materials be stopped and inspected in certain cases where track-side sensors, known as defect detectors, aren’t working properly. Those same sensors are a focus in the investigation into the Feb. 3 wreck.