A review of Union Pacific’s accident data for the past decade shows track defects cause the majority of accidents, Jennifer Homendy, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) board member, said at a recent hearing.
The 79-mile stretch of track associated with the March 10, 2017, derailment in Graettinger, Iowa, had 102 defects of “marginal” and “poor” crossties identified from 2015 to 2017, Homendy said.
The accident resulted in multiple tank cars spilling undenatured ethanol, an estimated $4 million in damage, and a fire that raged for more than 36 hours.
Union Pacific received rail or crosstie defects reports but did not take enough steps to fix the problems before the accident, Chief Accident Inspector Michael Hiller said.
“The inspectors were going out and they were doing their inspections, and they were reporting the conditions of the tie,” Hiller said. “In many cases – more than 100, as member Homendy pointed out – there were remediation efforts, and it’s clear based on our observations post-accident that the remediation efforts restored the track back to its minimum condition that it needed to sustain traffic.”
If 10 or 12 crossties are defective in a 39-foot section of track, it is not good practice to replace two or three simply to restore the track to the minimum, Hiller said.