US offers mixed review of Norfolk Southern safety culture

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. railroad regulators on Wednesday offered a mixed review of Norfolk Southern (NYSE:)’s safety culture after a Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, caused cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other dangerous chemicals to spill and catch fire.

The Transportation Department’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) also disclosed it is considering enforcement actions on a number of issues, including track maintenance, inspection, repair practices and hours of service regulations.

FRA found the railroad frequently focused solely on enforcing compliance with minimum safety standards and did not quickly respond to an earlier 2022 audit. But the review praised positive changes and renewed commitment shown by company leadership to improve safety.

Inspections in March identified over 100 defects across 95 miles (153 km) of Norfolk Southern territory “and FRA is considering enforcement actions based on those defects. Further, reviewing the maintenance and inspection history of the territory identified a failure to prioritize critical safety work necessary to ensure safe operation.”

Norfolk Southern did not immediately comment Wednesday but CEO Alan Shaw has said the railroad was committed to improving its safety culture.

“We’re going to invest in this, we’re going to invest in overtime, we’re going to listen to our team and we’re going to make it really clear through our communications and our actions that we’re investing in the safety culture,” Shaw said in a May 4 interview with the National Transportation Safety Board.

The report found Norfolk Southern had not moved quickly to embrace findings from the 2022 audit and noted little action in the last 12 months. “It is clear that (Norfolk Southern) does not place an urgent priority on applying lessons learned from the audit and putting corrective actions in place,” the FRA said.

The FRA said while it found enforcement issues the purpose of the safety assessment was “to explore aspects of the railroad organization and operations affecting safety in ways that are not necessarily addressed by rules and regulations.”