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2/3/2025
On the second anniversary of the Norfolk Southern Railway train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the nation's rail labor unions are asking all Class Is to fully join the Federal Railroad Administration's Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS).
The FRA’s C3RS is a long-standing program that allows workers to confidentially report “close call” safety incidents that could help prevent future catastrophic incidents. The confidentiality allows rail workers to report safety incidents without fear of discipline or retaliation.
It has been nearly two years since the Class Is' public commitment to join the program in the aftermath of the East Palestine accident. The derailed equipment included 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials; three sustained mechanical breaches and released flammable or combustible materials; five others released flammable gases as a result of fire exposure or deliberate breaching with explosives to perform a vent-and-burn procedure.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the derailment occurred because a bearing on a hopper car overheated and caused an axle to separate. The incident caused no fatalities.
The Class Is commitment to the C3RS followed then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's call to railroads to join the FRA's program. Last year, NS and BNSF Railway Co. announced they would join C3RS as part of pilot programs. The unions' letters to the Class Is ask that they all commit to fully joining the program.
Attached is a letter sent to CN President and CEO Tracy Robinson.
Later today, House Transportation Committee Vice Ranking Member Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio), House Rail Subcommittee Ranking Member Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and leaders of 13 U.S. rail unions will come together for a press call to be moderated by Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO (TTD). The House members and labor leaders will call on Congress to pass a comprehensive rail safety bill, as well as ask the Class Is to fully join the FRA's C3RS.
In addition, Vice President JD Vance, who was a U.S. senator from Ohio when the derailment occurred, is planning to visit East Palestine today. Vance will be joined by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin as well as local and state officials, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, during the visit to East Palestine, local news media reported.