And regulators banned cell phone use by train operators. “East Palestine is a striking example: instead of having 12 hours’ worth of in cab video, as we’ve recommended, our investigators only have access to a 20-minute recording - not nearly enough to help us or the FRA identify critical safety improvements needed to prevent similar accidents from reoccurring.”Ĭongress responded to that Chatsworth collision by requiring railroads to develop and install an automatic braking system that might have prevented it - something that took more than a decade and roughly $15 billion to complete. “Though many in the freight rail industry have opted to install recorders voluntarily, there’s absolutely no standard for the number of hours of data they must preserve after an accident,” Homendy said. The Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in February did have cameras, but Homendy said that because there are no federal standards for those cameras, investigators have only 20 minutes of footage from before that derailment. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a statement that the “FRA’s belief that the cost ‘could outweigh the safety benefits’ is an affront to every community that’s experienced a freight or freight-passenger rail disaster.”
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