Washington, DC
The National Transportation Safety Board determined today that the probable cause of the derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railroad Company train was the railroad’s inadequate rail inspection and maintenance program that resulted in a rail fracture from an undetected internal defect. Contributing to the accident was the Federal Railroad Administration’s inadequate oversight of the internal rail inspection process and its insufficient
requirements for internal rail inspection.
On Friday, October 20, 2006, a Norfolk Southern freight train (68QB119), en route from the Chicago, Illinois area to Sewaren, New Jersey, derailed while crossing the Beaver River railroad bridge in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. The train consisted of a three-unit locomotive pulling three empty freight cars and 83 tank cars loaded with 660,952 gallons of denatured ethanol. Twenty-three of the tank cars derailed. Several of the cars fell into the Beaver River. Approximately 20 of the cars released ethanol, a flammable liquid that ignited and burned for 48 hours. A seven-block area of New Brighton was evacuated. There were no injuries or fatalities.
“Because Norfolk Southern did not have an adequate rail inspection and maintenance program, they put the public, crew, and environment at risk,” said NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker.