General view of the site of the derailment of a train carrying hazardous waste, in East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., March 2, 2023.
Alan Freed | Reuters
The Association of American Railroads has announced several key safety measures for freight rails in the wake of the Norfolk Southern derailments, including the installation of approximately 1,000 new heat detectors, but a key union handling the construction work on lines says it lacks the workers to get the job done.
The president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, in charge of the “hot box” detector installation, tells CNBC the reduction in the workforce over the last three years as a result of the precision scheduled railroading model used by Class I freight rails, coupled with the additions in tech and equipment, have created a workload issue.
“Adding 1,000 more wayside detectors will create more work in the craft,” said Michael Baldwin, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. “Our organization makeup right now is 60% in maintenance, and 40% in construction. The construction side of our membership is in charge of installing these detectors. We need more people. I’ve been in meetings with the Class I railroads and I can tell you they are attempting to hire. The problem is they are only retaining 40-50%. People are leaving during the training.”
There are over a dozen different types of wayside detectors, including the hot-boxes which detect overheated bearings, axles, or other rail car components, which have been a focus of the ongoing Norfolk Southern derailment investigation in East Palestine, Ohio. There is no federal mandate for detectors, including the hot box detector, to be inspected. The Federal Railroad Administration recently released an advisory on the maintenance of hot box detectors and how they can better collect and review the data.
The AAR described its moves as an “initial set of steps” toward a future “with zero incidents and zero injuries — one where what happened in East Palestine never happens again.”
Baldwin said construction workers in the union currently keep log books on the maintenance they are doing “on their own,” and any new regulations mandating inspections and proper maintenance would require additional workforce.
“We need signalmen numbers back,” he said.
For one, he said Norfolk Southern needs to reestablish “electronic leader” positions, which hold a large portion of the responsibility for working with these detectors. “Three years ago, Norfolk Southern employed five in the area that includes East Palestine. Today there are zero,” Baldwin said. “This position requires years of experience. Now the role has been transferred to the signal maintainer who is tasked with keeping up with the government-mandated tests of other equipment. To do this correctly you need to have a larger trained workforce.”
Norfolk Southern did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Norfolk Southern has implemented new safety measures related to train length.
An AAR spokesperson told CNBC the industry has a track record of making the necessary staffing decisions. She cited the recent focus on hiring train and engine employees, up 9.9% in January compared to the prior year. Total Class I freight rail employment in January 2023 was 119,245, up 6.7% (7,491 employees) over January 2022. Staffing levels have been a recent issue in clashes between rail management, unions and government agencies which oversees the major freight lines.
Derailments across rail companies, though not chemicals incidents specifically, increased in recent years, according to Everstream Analytics.
Everstream Analytics
“There is concern that freight trains in the U.S. are becoming longer, heavier, and faster while safety regulations have not been updated to meet such changes,” said Jena Santoro, manager of intelligence solutions at Everstream. She added many freight rail companies reduced their number of safety inspectors as a cost-cutting measure in 2020, and despite a rebound in cargo volumes, companies have not yet returned to pre-pandemic staffing levels. “As such, the margin of risk has gotten thinner for rail companies when transporting cargo, and the oversight needed to ensure such risk is managed remains insufficient,” she said.
Ian Jefferies, CEO of AAR, stated in its release on the new safety measures that the industry has a “long history of voluntarily employing safety measures that go above and beyond federal requirements proves our belief in that principle. While we will continue to follow the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation in Ohio closely and recognize its deliberate, methodical, and fact-based approach, railroads are committed to taking appropriate steps now.”
