NS derailment 3/4/23; other NS issues

[AmtrakBlue]

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news...ls-springfield-clark-county-ohio/69972311007/

 

[alpha3]

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news...ls-springfield-clark-county-ohio/69972311007/

Four derailments by NS in just a couple months; what the heck is wrong with them?? Are they neglecting maintenance on rolling stock, or track? Or like UP, discouraging reporting and ignoring defects? DOT needs to come down hard on them, set an example so UP , BNSF, and CSX get their acts together as well.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/feds-norf...nal-reported-hazmat-concern/story?id=97723774

 

[TinCan782]

I guess the hot box detectors were working!
"The complaint alleges that the conductor, now concerned that the "trending hot" warning could lead to an overheated wheel, radioed the desk back and suggested that they stop the train and inspect it. But the dispatcher overruled the crew and urged them onward."

 

[jis]

I guess the hot box detectors were working!
"The complaint alleges that the conductor, now concerned that the "trending hot" warning could lead to an overheated wheel, radioed the desk back and suggested that they stop the train and inspect it. But the dispatcher overruled the crew and urged them onward."

Sounds almost like the Greek approach, sort of.... The Engineer said there is a red signal staring at me, the controller said ignore it and carry on.

 

[alpha3]

I guess the hot box detectors were working!
"The complaint alleges that the conductor, now concerned that the "trending hot" warning could lead to an overheated wheel, radioed the desk back and suggested that they stop the train and inspect it. But the dispatcher overruled the crew and urged them onward."

The big corporations these days have this 'robber baron' mentality that completely dismisses employee concerns and well-being, and throws safety issues to the winds in the pursuit of exorbitant profits. And they're helped by the current political climate that says ''do anything you want until you get caught, then claim it's a conspiracy and deny any wrongdoing.''

 

[user 13416]

It has not gone unnoticed around these parts that Norfolk Southern has had a lot more high-profile problems since their entirely profit-driven corporate headquarters move from Norfolk to Atlanta. The city of Atlanta (and possibly the state of Georgia) gave NS $Billions in tax incentives and other freebies to move their HQ to Atlanta. This undoubtedly pushed the BOD even farther towards the "more profit, less everything else" mentality. All that trickles down to management, who pushes their people to cut corners and ignore safety warnings.

 

[cirdan]

Sounds almost like the Greek approach, sort of.... The Engineer said there is a red signal staring at me, the controller said ignore it and carry on.

hey, I thought those red lights in Greece are there purely because they look so pretty?

 

[jis]

hey, I thought those red lights in Greece are there purely because they look so pretty?

They are exactly as pretty as here in the US or for that matter anywhere else when a Form D or equivalent are issued. In this case in Greece an equivalent of Form D was issued without adequate verification, by the Larissa station master.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/defective...discovered-norfolk-southern/story?id=97761704

 

[jis]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/defective...discovered-norfolk-southern/story?id=97761704

Good thing they divested all passenger operations a while back

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Norfolk Southern issued orders to take the cars with these wheels out of service until the wheelsets could be replaced, and are removing the model and series from service for inspection. The company also says they notified the manufacturer and "worked urgently" to inform the rest of the railroad industry since these wheelsets are not proprietary to Norfolk Southern.

The Association of American Railroads has now issued guidance to pull relevant cars off the tracks and inspect them -- and to immediately replace suspect wheelsets with new ones.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Next time I see a NS train approaching the platform I think I'll high tail it to the parking lot. Twice in the past week I stood by while NS trains ran by me on the track next to the platform.

 

[NSC1109]

I guess the hot box detectors were working!
"The complaint alleges that the conductor, now concerned that the "trending hot" warning could lead to an overheated wheel, radioed the desk back and suggested that they stop the train and inspect it. But the dispatcher overruled the crew and urged them onward."

As someone who has dealt with numerous situations like this, it doesn’t sound like we’re getting the full story here. On our end, we frequently have cars that get picked up as “trending warm” but aren’t triggering critical alarms…more often than not the crew is told to proceed to an area where they can safely inspect vs an immediate stop and inspect that is required when a critical alarm is received. If a car does require setout, the train can continue to the next setout point at a restricted speed so as to limit the heating of the bearing/wheel.

It is a different road, of course, but I have a difficult time believing that a crew was flat out told to ignore a trending warning. If they were, then that person needs to be terminated immediately and blacklisted from the railroads.

It has not gone unnoticed around these parts that Norfolk Southern has had a lot more high-profile problems since their entirely profit-driven corporate headquarters move from Norfolk to Atlanta. The city of Atlanta (and possibly the state of Georgia) gave NS $Billions in tax incentives and other freebies to move their HQ to Atlanta. This undoubtedly pushed the BOD even farther towards the "more profit, less everything else" mentality. All that trickles down to management, who pushes their people to cut corners and ignore safety warnings.

No way a front line railroad manager has the authority to tell a crew to ignore a defect detector alarm. If I did that I’d be shishkebab’d by the crew, then my boss, his boss, the entire safety team, then terminated. And yes, that’s on a Class 1 railroad. If the NS actually did give their people the authority to do that, then I would want to know exactly why they thought it was a good idea.

 

[Willbridge]

It has not gone unnoticed around these parts that Norfolk Southern has had a lot more high-profile problems since their entirely profit-driven corporate headquarters move from Norfolk to Atlanta. The city of Atlanta (and possibly the state of Georgia) gave NS $Billions in tax incentives and other freebies to move their HQ to Atlanta. This undoubtedly pushed the BOD even farther towards the "more profit, less everything else" mentality. All that trickles down to management, who pushes their people to cut corners and ignore safety warnings.

Corporate headquarters city issues are worth study. Greyhound's downward spiral seems to have begun when it was moved from Cleveland and Calgary to Phoenix. Boeing's move from Seattle to Chicago seems to match up with their problems. Is it a cause or an effect?

A former neighbor and I discussed this once. He had started what now is a worldwide ad agency famed for creativity. When he opened new offices he gave a lot of consideration to the creativity associated with their locations. Running a railway safely might suggest a different list of cities.

 

[Willbridge]

They are exactly as pretty as here in the US or for that matter anywhere else when a Form D or equivalent are issued. In this case in Greece an equivalent of Form D was issued without adequate verification, by the Larissa station master.

On the run from the French border to Barcelona in 1971 on my first ever ride on RENFE we were held up by a lengthy red block. The conductor hit the ballast and I watched him call (thanks to the non-AC open windows). He penciled a note and gave the Spanish equivalent of a highball and we proceeded at a restricted speed to the next signal which was clear.

A victim of stereotyping, I kept visualizing a little two column inch story about a Spanish train wreck that only killed one American, and countless foreigners. But, in fact, it was handled as professionally as it could be.

 

[daybeers]

The big corporations these days have this 'robber baron' mentality that completely dismisses employee concerns and well-being, and throws safety issues to the winds in the pursuit of exorbitant profits. And they're helped by the current political climate that says ''do anything you want until you get caught, then claim it's a conspiracy and deny any wrongdoing.''

I really don't see why people are so surprised by this; this concept is the entire point of capitalism. There's no end goal but more profit at all costs.

 

[jis]

On the run from the French border to Barcelona in 1971 on my first ever ride on RENFE we were held up by a lengthy red block. The conductor hit the ballast and I watched him call (thanks to the non-AC open windows). He penciled a note and gave the Spanish equivalent of a highball and we proceeded at a restricted speed to the next signal which was clear.

A victim of stereotyping, I kept visualizing a little two column inch story about a Spanish train wreck that only killed one American, and countless foreigners. But, in fact, it was handled as professionally as it could be.

In India both the section dispatcher and the signalman in the cabin have to notionally sign off on an equivalent of a Form D before it can be issued.

One thing that apparently happened in Greece is that the block controller may not have been fully aware of the big picture, and the system was lulled into the habit of giving a pass by that signal because it had been out of order for a long time apparently. Or so I heard in the rumor mill in Athens.

I was in Athens to view the aftermath of the accident in Greece. On both the days I arrived and the day I departed there was transportation and other strikes. I was able to make it to my hotel and back because I was using private hotel transfer and not the public transport system, Still the traffic jams were horrendous, specially around the city center around Syntagma Square and the Parliament.

 

[west point]

NS screws up PR again

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...tm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email