Railroad Group warns railcar errors can lead to derailments

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. railroads were warned to ground certain cars Thursday after Norfolk Southern discovered loose wheels on a car involved in previous weekends Derailment in Ohio.

It’s not clear the loose wheels caused the derailment near Springfield last Saturday because the National Transportation Safety Board has just begun investigating into that accident — the latest in a series of high-profile ones derailments that was grab headlines. However, the railroad said the car’s loose wheels could cause a derailment.

Norfolk Southern said in a statement that after discovering “additional instances of unusual wheel movement,” the railroad acted quickly to notify accident investigators and the rest of the industry. The Association of American Railroads trade group responded Thursday with a recommendation on the suspect cars.

The trade group said the problem was linked to new wheel sets being fitted to special steel coil cars from August. The association said all cars with these wheels should be inspected and their wheels replaced immediately.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many railcars might be affected or where they are, said Jessica Kahanek, spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads.

Railway safety has been in the spotlight since a fiery derailment of Norfolk Southern last month in Ohio. About half of the city of East Palestine had to be evacuated after several dangerous goods wagons caught fire. The CEO of the railroad was Answering questions about this wreck at a congressional hearing on Thursday.

Besides the Springfield derailment, two Other have been reported across the country over the past week, although none involved hazardous materials.