Written by: Matthew Orquia
Contributing Writers: Amanda Blake, Alexis Dewey, Jacob Nevis
Six weeks after a Norfolk Southern train derailment shook the Collegedale community, a similar but more consequential incident unfolded in East Palestine, Ohio, raising concerns about rail safety nationwide.
Unlike the Dec. 20 Collegedale accident, which involved no hazardous chemicals, the fiery Feb. 3 Ohio derailment involved 20 hazardous material tank cars transporting combustible and flammable liquids and gas, according to a report published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Among the hazardous materials: vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing chemical, which lingered in the air and water after first responders burned toxic substances to avoid an explosion. Half the town of 5,000 people had to be evacuated.
That incident, along with other high-profile train derailments across the country, have resulted in increased national scrutiny of railroad safety, prompting students in the Fall 2023 Southern Adventist University Investigative Reporting class to investigate railroad safety in the Collegedale community. The pivotal questions explored for the project were: What level of awareness do local authorities have regarding substances transported through Collegedale? To what extent is the community prepared to handle a situation similar to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio? Moreover, what is being done by government officials, local leaders and Norfolk Southern to keep residents safe?
William Wong, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), responded to the question about hazardous materials possibly transported through Collegedale in an email, stating: “Regarding the transportation of hazmat, I will first note that neither FRA nor any government agency can provide information that lists specific rail lines that hazardous material shipments traverse, as railroads consider such information to be proprietary, and doing so raises safety and security issues.”
Instead, Wong recommended contacting individual rail carriers for information and data they are willing to release. In an email to the Accent, Norfolk Southern Senior Communications Manager Heather Garcia responded to a question about the materials that the company transports through Colledgale.
“Incidents involving hazardous material spills are extremely rare, but we are prepared for them. Norfolk Southern has a team of regional hazardous material professionals and are backed up by specialized contractors that respond immediately to any incident.”
“Norfolk Southern, like all Class I railroads, is required by federal law to carry a variety of materials,” the email stated. “Incidents involving hazardous material spills are extremely rare, but we are prepared for them. Norfolk Southern has a team of regional hazardous material professionals and are backed up by specialized contractors that respond immediately to any incident.”
Additionally, the email stated, Norfolk Southern has a program that provides safety training to emergency responders called Operation Awareness & Response (OAR).
“We offer a streamlined process by which local officials can request information specific to what kinds of materials may travel through their jurisdiction,” according to the statement released by the company.
“You can watch if you ever get close to the tracks, [and] every single one of those train cars is going to have HAZMAT plates on it identifying what type, not necessarily what exactly, but what type of chemicals are in them and what type of hazards they have.”
Collegedale Public Works Director Eric Sines said Norfolk Southern will transport anything it is legally allowed to, and some of the materials could cause an evacuation if spilled.
“You can watch if you ever get close to the tracks, [and] every single one of those train cars is going to have HAZMAT plates on it identifying what type, not necessarily what exactly, but what type of chemicals are in them and what type of hazards they have,” Sines said.
Within the shipping industry there are around 300 standardized placards that first responders are trained to identify so they know whether evacuation is required at an incident.
“We are trained on what the majority of those placards mean [and] how they need to be handled,” Sines said. However, when pressed for more information about placards he has seen, Sines responded by text, stating: “I’ve not really noticed any specific placards; just know they have to be on there.”
Federal government prioritizes rail safety in wake of recent Norfolk Southern derailments
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) conducted a safety assessment of Norfolk Southern in the spring, following several derailments involving the company’s trains, railroad tracks and the death of a Norfolk Southern employee.
The assessment focused on Norfolk Southern’s safety culture and training, as well as compliance with previous safety recommendations FRA made after conducting a 2022 system-wide special audit of the railroad company, according to the results published in August. The purpose of the assessment was to investigate aspects of Norfolk Southern’s operations that affect safety but are not necessarily addressed by regulations.
The FRA found that Norfolk Southern’s rate of accidents per million train miles rose faster than that of any other Class I railroad between 2018 and 2022. While acknowledging company efforts to follow the federal agency’s most recent safety recommendations, regulators concluded that “there are still areas where [Norfolk Southern] continues to use minimum standards set by regulations as a benchmark for efficacy.”
The FRA found that Norfolk Southern’s rate of accidents per million train miles rose faster than that of any other Class I railroad between 2018 and 2022.
Norfolk Southern responded to the FRA’s assessment by pledging to take action based on its results, according to an article by Railway Age.
“We are a safe railroad driven to become even safer,” said Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan H. Shaw, as quoted in the article. “To learn, we have to listen.”
Norfolk Southern leaders met with FRA Administrator Amit Bose on Aug. 8 to discuss the assessment, the article stated.
“I gave Administrator Bose my personal commitment that we are going to use this assessment to take further action,” Shaw is quoted as saying. “We aren’t waiting. As an immediate first step, we delivered the report to Atkins Nuclear Secured, the consultant conducting an independent review of our safety program. We’ll continue making progress on our six-point safety plan. We’re also actively collaborating with labor on safety and we’re engaging with them on next steps to address the report’s findings.”
“We are a safe railroad driven to become even safer. To learn, we have to listen.”
In addition to safety investigations, the impact of the East Palestine derailment and others across the country prompted the introduction of the Railway Safety Act of 2023, which imposed additional safety regulations on trains carrying hazardous materials and raised the maximum fine for violating rail safety laws from $100,000 to $10 million, according to a Senate press release. President Joe Biden released a statement in support of the bill on March 2, stating:
“I applaud the bipartisan group of senators for proposing rail safety legislation that provides many of the solutions that my administration has been calling for. This legislation provides us with tools to hold companies accountable to prevent terrible tragedies like the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine and to make those communities whole.”
In September, the FRA awarded the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) a $23.7 million Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) Grant for repairing railroad bridges in 12 different Tennessee counties. However, Hamilton County is not included in the funding.
The University Connection
At Southern Adventist University, a campus of nearly 3,000 students, protocols are in place to address a dangerous train incident should it happen, according to Kevin Penrod, director of Campus Safety.
“Administration is aware of the possibility that a train derailment with hazardous materials could affect campus,” he said. “If such an event were to occur, we would implement Southern’s emergency response plan. The Crisis Management Team periodically runs practice scenarios to prepare for a variety of potential incidents.”
In an email to the Accent, the university elaborated further, clarifying its coexistence with the railroad: “The train tracks do not cross Southern’s property; the railroad owns 50 feet on either side of the centerline of the track. The adjacent right-of-way is the City of Collegedale, not Southern.
“Southern has a good working relationship with the City of Collegedale, which has the direct connection to the train company,” the statement further explained. “We are unaware of any prior derailments at that spot, though if a derailment involving hazardous materials were to happen, Southern has an emergency response plan that would go into effect.”
Matt Mundall, a fire marshall at Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department, said the Collegedale train derailment was minor compared to others like the derailment in East Palestine. He said the Dec. 20 derailment was the first to happen in Collegedale in some time. Patrick Kellam, captain of the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, said it was his first derailment since joining the department in 2000.
“We do not have a protocol specific to train derailment, though we do have protocols for major incidents including large motor vehicles and hazardous materials,” Mundall said.
“We are unaware of any prior derailments at that spot, though if a derailment involving hazardous materials were to happen, Southern has an emergency response plan that would go into effect.”
The fire department does try to plan ahead for each incident they may need to respond to, he explained, but it can be difficult when they do not always know what to expect.
“Our members do receive routine training on hazardous materials responses, and those incidents might happen day or night,” Mundall said, “during all types of weather and involve any type of vehicle or structure.”
Emergency Response Guide
Amy Maxwell, public relations and crisis communications manager for Hamilton County Emergency Management, said one of the Norfolk Southern engineers gave a book to the first responders on the scene following the Dec. 20 incident. The book, called the Emergency Response Guide (ERG), has every chemical from the train listed on it, so the first responders know what to do in the case of a spill.
As a result of the Collegedale derailment, 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the Wolftever Creek, according to a Collegedale police report on the incident.
“Once we figured out what the hazards were, we were able to take appropriate steps to contain those hazards and minimize the amount of damage to the environment surrounding the accident,” Kellam said. His team has not yet made any adjustments to protocols as a result of the accident.
“Our typical protocol for a train derailment does not differ much from any other scene we go to,” Kellam explained. “Our main concern is life safety, followed by the safety of the environment and adjacent property.”
When asked if Collegedale had safety policies related to the railroad, Sines said, “We have standard operating procedures to respond to any kind of traffic or hazardous incidents, so that would apply to the railroad. But no, there’s no specific railroad-based policy.”
“Railroad crossings can be uniquely dangerous places, and extra care should always be used to ensure everyone’s safety.”
Garcia, the Norfolk Southern representative interviewed for this project, explained in the email to the Accent that although railroad transportation is generally safe, caution should be taken around railroad tracks.
“Railroad crossings can be uniquely dangerous places, and extra care should always be used to ensure everyone’s safety,” the email stated. “You should never enter a crossing before you are sure you can get all the way through safely, whether on foot or in the car. While we encourage all drivers to use caution when crossing tracks, professional drivers and operators of large vehicles are subject to specific rules when it comes to approaching tracks.”
Driving Safety Measures
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has guidelines for drivers of commercial vehicles at railroad crossings. The FMCSA website states that “drivers subject to the Department of Transportation’s commercial vehicle safety rules” are prohibited from “entering a highway-rail grade crossing unless there is enough space to drive completely through the crossing without stopping.”
In an interview with the Accent, Sines said there is always the risk of something going wrong at at-grade crossings, but he doesn’t think the railroad negatively affects the safety of the city. He said the truck driver involved in the Dec. 20 derailment, whom police have identified as Jorge Luis Cruz-Vega, and those assisting him should not have put themselves in the situation they did at the crossing.
“The truck driver did not do what he was supposed to do,” Sines said. “The … pilot company that they were using did not do what they were supposed to do.”
As a class-A CDL driver, Sines said he is personally aware of what’s required.
“ … It’s ingrained into you in the tests that you take and the literature that you read,” he said. “ … [The driver] panicked and did not do what he was supposed to do when his training should have kicked in and told him. It should never have happened, but it did.”
Sines stressed the need for communication between trucking and railroad companies.
“They should have had a pilot car in communications with the railroad [to] make sure there’s no train in route,” he said. “[There is a] whole gamut of things that didn’t happen, and that’s not surprising. Depending on who you’re dealing with, that trucking company may not have even known they were going across a railroad crossing.”
According to a witness statement in the Collegedale Police Department crash report from Roger Lewis, who was one of the drivers escorting the truck and trailer, there was no contact with Norfolk Southern before the delivery.
Sines said Wright Brothers Construction Co. did not know that the concrete beam was being delivered that day. Sines said Wright Brothers Construction Co. probably did not contract the trucking company [Starrette Houston] because that is typically handled by the manufacturer of the beam.
“It’s solely on the transportation company of that beam,” Lamar Rains, Collegedale Public Works safety director said. “The driver in the front, the driver in the back — [they] should have held off the track. They should have never crossed that with the amount of traffic that was heading between the red light and track. They should have never pulled him [Cruz-Vega] across that track.”
“ … [The driver] panicked and did not do what he was supposed to do when his training should have kicked in and told him. It should never have happened, but it did.”
In the aftermath of the derailment, police charged Cruz-Vega, a resident of Martinez, Ga., with failure to yield, reckless endangerment and vandalism of critical infrastructure, according to a Collegedale Police crash report. In a recent interview, Assistant Police Chief Jamie Heath said the case includes a plea agreement, which involves Cruz-Vega possibly losing his commercial driver’s license. A legal review of the case is scheduled for January.
Despite repeated efforts by the Accent, neither Cruz-Vega nor representatives from Starrette Houston or Wright Brothers Construction Co. could be reached for comment.
Ongoing Safety Concerns
According to Heath, a major rail accident with hazardous materials is a persistent concern among community leaders and first responders.
“You always want to be prepared for that kind of thing, and I feel like we were as far as the Hamilton County team responding to something like that,” he said, referring to how first responders handled the Dec. 20 crash and derailment in Collegedale. “Everybody did what they were supposed to do; those emergency plans worked exactly the way they were designed. So it definitely is a concern, but that’s why we have those plans in place.”
“Everybody did what they were supposed to do; those emergency plans worked exactly the way they were designed.”
When asked whether local authorities are aware of the types of material being transported through Collegedale, he said the railroad is federally regulated, and local authorities aren’t always kept in the loop due to politics and other issues.
“Would I like to know what’s coming through? Absolutely,” Heath said. “But when you start getting government agencies talking to government agencies and the bureaucracy and everything, red tape starts slowing things down.
“I just wish it would be as simple as a phone call, you know, ‘Hey, we’re bringing nuclear waste through your area, just wanted to let you know,’” he added. “But how many phone calls would that be? How many emails would that be? I mean, those rail lines go through states and towns and cities and counties. And I don’t know what the logistics of something like that would look like.”
