NTSB derailment investigation renews concerns about detectors, tank cars and Norfolk Southern | KLRT [Video]

The National Transportation Safety Board’s daylong hearing on what caused the disastrous East Palestine train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last year gave the community, railroads and policymakers plenty to think about.

The NTSB confirmed the crash was caused by an overheating bearing on one of the rail cars, and they detailed why officials were wrong to blow open five tank cars of vinyl chloride and burn the contents.

Here are some of the agency’s key findings from Tuesday’s hearing:

Trackside detectors

The detectors railroads use along their tracks to help spot overheating bearings, flat wheels and dangling equipment were a key focus of the NTSB investigation.

The Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine passed three so called “hot box detectors” just before the crash, but the train’s overheating bearing wasn’t caught in time even though surveillance footage showed a fire underneath the rail car as it passed through Salem, …