Norfolk Southern safety enhancements align with NTSB East Palestine final recommendations

Norfolk Southern Corporation issued the following statement regarding the findings of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio:

Norfolk Southern appreciates the NTSB's investigation, recommendations for enhancing rail safety and the acknowledgement of the steps Norfolk Southern has taken to improve safety. We share the commitment and over the last 16 months have implemented many enhancements and technologies to make our railroad even safer.

Among the NTSB recommendations specific to Norfolk Southern, we have taken action to enable the immediate availability of train consist information to first responders and encourage contractors to share information to make emergency response decisions. In addition, we have substantially addressed the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recommendations from its 2023 Safety Culture Assessment. As a result of these actions and others, Norfolk Southern's mainline accident rate declined 38% last year to industry leading levels. We will move quickly to compare the NTSB's recommendations to our current protocols and will implement those that advance our safety culture.

The NTSB again confirmed our crew's actions reflect the professionalism and commitment to safety of all Norfolk Southern operators. Specifically, investigators noted:

• The rail crew operated the train below the track speed limit and handled the train in an approved manner.
• There were no track defects.
• Once the rail crew was alerted by the wayside detector, they acted appropriately by immediately beginning to stop the train.

"We resolved not to wait for the NTSB's final report before taking decisive action," said John Fleps, Chief Safety Officer at Norfolk Southern. "We will continue to build on our strong safety culture through partnership and innovation to be the gold standard of safety for the rail industry."

Norfolk Southern has:

• Become the first railroad to partner with RapidSOS, a digital platform that connects devices over 16,000 emergency response agencies to immediately provide first responders with real-time access to train consists, train locations, and emergency response protocols.
• Continued to advocate for phasing out inferior customer-owned DOT-111 tank cars and imposing a more expedited phaseout timetable than federal regulations have provided given our role as a common carrier under which we are obligated to accept DOT-111 tank cars.
• Launched and implemented Six-Point Safety Plan including:
• Installing 187 additional hot bearing detectors, reducing core network average distance between detectors to approximately 12 miles;
• Quadrupling acoustic bearing detectors;
• Developing and deploying Digital Train Inspection Portals, using ultra-high-resolution cameras and machine vision; and
• Investing in next-generation inspection technology.
• Continued to invest significant resources in training first responders on hazmat response.
• Broke ground on a new regional first responder training center in East Palestine, Ohio and will invest $25 million in the new center.
• Continued to provide classroom and online resources, tabletop drills, and full-scale exercises to help responders prepare for incidents through our OAR program.
• Participated in industry efforts to help communities develop emergency response plans.
• In collaboration with labor unions, become the first Class I railroad to join the FRA's Confidential Close Call Reporting System.
• Brought in world-class safety experts, AtkinsRéalis (ANS) to conduct an independent review and implement a 2-3 year roadmap of additional safety initiatives.