NTSB chair to visit East Palestine and Darlington Township at end of March
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — In her first interview with a Pennsylvania media outlet since the Feb. 3, train derailment, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy broke the news to KDKA-TV that she will be making her first trip to East Palestine, Ohio, and Darlington Township, Pennsylvania, at the end of the month.
She spent 40 minutes speaking with KDKA-TV's Lauren Linder, also revealing when a special field hearing on the crash will take place and commenting on the board's special investigation into Norfolk Southern's safety practices for the first time.
"Most derailments do not result in this type of terrible, terrible tragedy, thankfully, but you know, it only takes one," Homendy said.
That one derailment may just be East Palestine, the one that, unfortunately, devastates communities for decades to come but possibly changes the future of railroad safety. Leading that push is Homendy.
"This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics," Homendy said.
Homendy was unusually outspoken early on in the investigation of that night on Feb. 3, when a Norfolk Southern train derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and released toxic chemicals into the environment. The oversight board is looking into the crash and Norfolk Southern.
"From our standpoint, five accidents within such a short period of time is a concern, and possibly indicative of a greater safety culture problem throughout Norfolk Southern, and that's what we're going to take a look at," Homendy said.
Since Dec. 2021, the NTSB has sent investigative teams to five significant incidents involving Norfolk Southern, three of which occurred in the past month in Ohio. As a part of this special investigation, the board will also review an accident in Sandusky it hadn't looked into before. It's rare, and the only other time Homendy remembers conducting this kind of investigation is in 2013 after several accidents on Metro North.
The investigation will be separate from that of the East Palestine derailment and should also take about one year.
"What we do as a part of that investigation is really look at indicators of a more systemic problem within the company," Homendy said.
At this time, she doesn't single out Norfolk Southern as a problemed company and said the NTSB has its full cooperation when it comes to both investigations.
What she worries about is whether their safety recommendations throughout the process and once the final report is released will move forward.
"At the end of our investigation, we have to make sure our recommendations are implemented, and I don't want them forgotten about," Homendy said.
Homendy doesn't believe it should take the bipartisan bill proposed in Congress to make it happen.
"These companies can take action immediately and take action on their own without a mandate," Homendy said.
While Norfolk Southern just introduced new measures regarding hotbox detectors within its system, she doesn't feel it's enough. The board quickly found out an overheated wheel bearing caused the derailment. Now it's finding out what led up to it internally.
"What happened organizational that established the conditions that allowed for this accident to happen in the first place?" Homendy said.
Along the way, she will make her first trip to East Palestine and Darlington Township at the end of March. She said she would have visited earlier but recently had foot surgery.
"I'd like to sit somewhere and have coffee with the people in East Palestine and have them talk to me, talk to me about what they experienced, talk to me about what their concerns are," Homendy said.
In June, the board will then hold an unprecedented special field hearing in the village. Homendy said NTSB workers will be heading to the region this weekend to scope out venues for the field hearing.
"It's an opportunity for us to ask a lot of questions of invited witnesses so that we can gather additional facts around the investigation, but it's also an opportunity for the public to hear our questions and to hear the answers to those questions," Homendy said.
If there's one thing she wants those impacted to know it's this.
"We don't forget, ever, and we continue to fight for every single person who's been impacted by an accident that we investigate," Homendy said.
