Norfolk Southern employee killed in Cleveland accident (updated)

Norfolk Southern logo

CLEVELAND — A Norfolk Southern employee has been killed in a collision between a train and a dump truck this morning (Tuesday, March 7), according to news reports. WJW-TV reports the accident occurred early this morning on the rail line through the Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works steelmaking facility, and that the victim has been identified by […]

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Wheel bearing expert: To prevent derailments, railroads should equip freight cars with sensors

Hot box and dragging equipment detector.

Installing sensors on freight cars is the only way to prevent another disastrous derailment like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, a wheel bearing expert says. Constantine Tarawneh, a mechanical engineering professor who heads the University Transportation Center for Railway Safety at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, […]

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Norfolk Southern taking steps to improve wayside detector network

Black cloud of smoke above town

Norfolk Southern will take several steps to improve its wayside defect detector network in the wake of the National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on last month’s disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. NTSB officials say the Feb. 3 wreck of train 32N was likely caused by the catastrophic failure of a wheel bearing on […]

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NS train derails in Springfield, Ohio (updated)

Aerial view of derailed freight cars

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Twenty-eight cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed near Springfield on Saturday evening, leading to an initial shelter-in-place order from local authorities before it was determined no hazardous-materials situation was involved. The Associated Press reports that there were no hazardous materials aboard the train and no injuries were involved. Clark County reported […]

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NTSB expresses concerns about protective covers on tank cars

An "energetic pressure release" from a vinyl chloride tank car at East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 4, 2023. NTSB.

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board says it is “looking closely” at aluminum protective covers on tank cars involved in the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment, over concerns those covers melted on three of the cars, which may have hampered the performance of pressure relief devices. The issue occurred on three of the five cars […]

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Monon Route passenger trains photo gallery

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Monon Route passenger trains All through March 2023, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway — the Monon Route! Please enjoy a selection of images of Monon Route passenger trains selected from the files of Kalmabch Media‘s David P. Morgan Library. This gallery was originally published […]

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FRA makes safety recommendations for hotbox detector warnings

Black cloud of smoke above town

WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration today encouraged railroads to improve the way they collect and use data from wayside hotbox detectors in order to prevent catastrophic derailments like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio. “Preliminary investigation of recent train derailments indicates the cause of, or contributing factor to, […]

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Lehigh Valley passenger trains remembered

A black and white photo of a conductor posing next to a locomotive

Lehigh Valley passenger trains remembered: All through February 2023, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in upstate New York. The LV was a smaller Class I railroads in its day, but still had interesting passenger trains as you can see from this photo gallery selected from the […]

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