East Palestine, Ohio – June 25, 2024

The NTSB made 25 recommendations for their final report into the East Palestine derailment that concluded with a vent and burn decision for a few cars that had vinyl chloride. The recommendations included:

1. Research the effectiveness of current bearing defect detection systems and identify minimum standards to protect railroad personnel and the public. These results shall be made public.
2. Use the results from recommendation 1 to develop and establish minimum requirements for bearing defect detection systems that include bearing alert and alarm thresholds and maximum distance between wayside detectors.
3. Establish requirements for installing, inspecting, and maintaining wayside bearing detectors.
4. Use the results from recommendation 1 to develop and establish rules governing railroads' operational responses to bearing alerts and alarms.

The final NTSB report is expected in a couple of weeks. We will provide a copy of that report when it is released.