Engineer put the brakes on, the NTSB’s report says, but a wheel bearing had been heating up for a considerable amount of time
Crew members on the freight train that derailed in Ohio earlier this month, unleashing a huge blaze and spreading dangerous chemicals, tried to slow and stop the train after seeing an alert about an overheating wheel bearing, but it came off the tracks, according to an interim report released on Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The train engineer put the brakes on and the automatic braking system activated, the report said, but it was revealed that a wheel bearing had been heating up for a considerable time before the train reached the town of East Palestine, near the Pennsylvania state line.
Fifty of the train’s cars derailed, carrying huge quantities of toxic chemicals, prompting an evacuation order and a declaration of a state of emergency in the Ohio village.
The report was issued as the transport secretary, Pete Buttigieg, visited the area on Thursday and federal environmental regulators earlier in the week took control of the clean-up, ordered the US railroad company, Norfolk Southern, to foot the bill.
The NTSB said the crew did not receive a critical warning about an overheated axle but an engineer stopped the train after receiving a “critical audible alarm message” and the crew then saw fire and smoke and alerted dispatch of a possible derailment, the report said.
