Lack of Alignment Couplers Highlighted In NS Ala. Derailment

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:53 am

Norfolk Southern, and probably all the other major North American railroad companies, have just been handed THE major reason/excuse never to touch a vintage locomotive or passenger car again.

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pag ... LR008.aspx

Quote:

On March 9, 2023, about 6:19 a.m. local time, westbound Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) mixed freight train 245A109 derailed 2 locomotives and 37 railcars on the Alabama East End District of its Gulf Division in Anniston, Alabama. [1] The derailment involved two sections of the train, resulting in two derailment sites. At the first site, located near the head end of the consist, 2 locomotives and 29 railcars derailed. At the second site, located near the rear end of the consist, eight railcars derailed. A total of three tank cars carrying hazardous materials derailed: one containing sodium hydrosulfide residue and two containing ferrous chloride residue. The tank cars remained intact and did not release hazardous materials. There were no reported fatalities or injuries. NS estimated damages to equipment, track, and signal infrastructure to be about $2.9 million. At the time of the accident, visibility conditions were clear with early morning daylight; the weather was 57°F with no precipitation.

The crew of train 245A109 consisted of one engineer and one conductor. The train was composed of 6 locomotives and 108 railcars; 34 railcars were loaded, 74 were empty, and 2 of the locomotives were being transported as waybill locomotives.[2] The waybill locomotives were not equipped with alignment control couplers, which resist lateral coupler movement under compressive in-train forces. NS operating rule L-212 prohibits coupling together locomotives without alignment control couplers when those locomotives will be dead-in-tow.[3] The waybill locomotives were coupled together and picked up from Bluffton, Indiana, on February 24, 2023.[4] An NS inspection performed before the first movement involving the coupled waybill locomotives did not identify the absence of alignment control couplers.

While on scene, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examined railroad equipment and track conditions; reviewed data from the signal system, wayside defect detectors, and the lead locomotive’s event recorder and forward-facing and inward-facing image recorders; and completed interviews.

The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on NS communication, maintenance, and inspection practices; locomotive and railcar positioning; and train handling.

[1] Train 245A109 was traveling from Atlanta, Georgia, to Birmingham, Alabama.
[2] A waybill locomotive is being transported for revenue and is dead-in-tow; meaning it is not used for tractive power.
[3] See NS-1 Rules for Equipment Operation and Handling, effective January 1, 2019.
[4] The waybill locomotives were moved by four trains before being added to train 245A109 on the day of the derailment.

Emphasis added by me.

Although it was not released in the preliminary report, the locos in question were a pair of ex-IC GP10 rebuilds, formerly used by the Wabash Central short line out of Bluffton, Ind. and reportedly sold to a South American company earlier this year, and apparently en route to a port city for export shipment via Atlanta. The two locos were identified as ex-IC 8365/IC 9129/WBCR 6/RMEX 6, and ex-IC 8704/ICG 8704/UP 186B/WBCR 8/RMEX 8, both traveling under RMEX reporting marks. RMEX is apparently a new reporting mark applied to several locos in the Midwest in the past couple of months, and does not appear on any official list that I have found yet.

NTSB preliminary accident reports provide basic information on an incident and do not attempt to determine a probable cause, so this report does not necessarily indicate the locomotive issue led to the derailment. In a similar fashion, the prelimuinary report on the NS derailment in Springfield, Ohio on March 4th called for the examination of a batch of wheelsets on a specific lot of Canadian-built steel coil cars after a wheel shifted on an axle during operation:
https://www.whio.com/news/local/springf ... A35CPWY3M/

Randy Gustafson · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:27 am

Thanks for this. Does L-212 specifically go after alignment control or only when there are two non-alignment control locomotives together?

Last time I was involved with the movement of two F-units, they were not separated, but couplers had to be wedged prior to interchange. Movement was CSX-BNSF-UP and only UP had issues but we got past it OK without incident.

Kelly Anderson · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am **Posts:** 2477

jayrod · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:33 pm

Please correct me if I’m wrong. Freight cars themselves do not have alignment control couplers. Their purpose is to help keep the locos on the track under severe buff forces. Everything else is free to wind up where it goes with a severe slack run-in. Good train handling is almost an art form and with the advent of PSR, managing slack is even more important than ever. I don’t know if they were under DB or not but unless you gather slack before jumping into DB, you can have a bit of a problem. Unless there was a mechanical failure, I think train handling may be the culprit here. It’ll be interesting to see the final report from the NTSB.

I have noticed that the media is shouting ad nauseam about the lack of alignment control without having any idea about what it is, how it works and what it’s installed on.

EDM · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:49 pm

I haven't seen any reporting on this yet; did the locomotives dead in tow derail? If they stayed on the rails, I would suspect that the couplers were not an issue. Again, I have not seen any information on this.

jayrod · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 4:43 pm

Quote:

In a similar fashion, the prelimuinary report on the NS derailment in Springfield, Ohio on March 4th called for the examination of a batch of wheelsets on a specific lot of Canadian-built steel coil cars after a wheel shifted on an axle during operation

NS issued an advisory about the availability of coil cars since they pulled all of those from service for inspection or repair.

eze240 · **Joined:** Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:29 am **Posts:** 319

Post deleted

jcmarksbury · **Joined:** Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:58 am **Posts:** 36

eze240 wrote:

They will obviously try to blame the lack of alignment couplers....

The easy thing to blame is the other guys equipment, i.e. The GP10's....

The only entity putting the blame on the couplers at this point is the NTSB. Even then, they are only blaming Norfolk Southern for not following its own rulebook concerning this equipment.

jayrod · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:46 pm

NTSB hasn’t found cause yet - no blame. They only mention the couplers due to NS not adhering to their own rule. The final report and docket are not released yet and probably won’t be for a while.

Rolling a mainline rail over wouldn’t be at the top of my list though possible.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 6:32 pm

jayrod wrote:

NTSB hasn’t found cause yet - no blame. They only mention the couplers due to NS not adhering to their own rule. The final report and docket are not released yet and probably won’t be for a while.

Rolling a mainline rail over wouldn’t be at the top of my list though possible.

Let's note one thing:
Even if a jetliner were to crash into the right of way right in front of a 60-mph freight train, or a terrorist group were to claim responsibility for blowing up a train or bridge, or the train plows into a truck stuck on a grade crossing, the NTSB only cites "probable cause," NOT "cause."

The NTSB position is that it never wants to be an official "body of judgment" whose declarations can be used as grounds for litigation. Their mission is to prevent future catastrophes wherever and whenever possible.

Chris Webster · **Joined:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:45 am **Posts:** 1082

The NTSB's Ongoing Investigation for Investigation No RRD23LR008, Norfolk Southern Railway Train Derailment page includes this description:

Quote:

Norfolk Southern Railway Train Derailment
Investigation Details
What Happened
This information is preliminary and subject to change. Release Date: 20 March 2023

On March 9, 2023, about 6:19 a.m. local time, westbound Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) mixed freight train 245A109 derailed 2 locomotives and 37 railcars on the Alabama East End District of its Gulf Division in Anniston, Alabama. [1] The derailment involved two sections of the train, resulting in two derailment sites. At the first site, located near the head end of the consist, 2 locomotives and 29 railcars derailed. At the second site, located near the rear end of the consist, eight railcars derailed. A total of three tank cars carrying hazardous materials derailed: one containing sodium hydrosulfide residue and two containing ferrous chloride residue. The tank cars remained intact and did not release hazardous materials. There were no reported fatalities or injuries. NS estimated damages to equipment, track, and signal infrastructure to be about $2.9 million. At the time of the accident, visibility conditions were clear with early morning daylight; the weather was 57°F with no precipitation.

The crew of train 245A109 consisted of one engineer and one conductor. The train was composed of 6 locomotives and 108 railcars; 34 railcars were loaded, 74 were empty, and 2 of the locomotives were being transported as waybill locomotives.[2] The waybill locomotives were not equipped with alignment control couplers, which resist lateral coupler movement under compressive in-train forces. NS operating rule L-212 prohibits coupling together locomotives without alignment control couplers when those locomotives will be dead-in-tow.[3] The waybill locomotives were coupled together and picked up from Bluffton, Indiana, on February 24, 2023.[4] An NS inspection performed before the first movement involving the coupled waybill locomotives did not identify the absence of alignment control couplers.

While on scene, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examined railroad equipment and track conditions; reviewed data from the signal system, wayside defect detectors, and the lead locomotive’s event recorder and forward-facing and inward-facing image recorders; and completed interviews.

The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on NS communication, maintenance, and inspection practices; locomotive and railcar positioning; and train handling.

Parties to the investigation include the Federal Railroad Administration; the Alabama Public Service Commission; NS; the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers; the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division.[5]

Note the 4th footnote:

Quote:

[1] Train 245A109 was traveling from Atlanta, Georgia, to Birmingham, Alabama.
[2] A waybill locomotive is being transported for revenue and is dead-in-tow; meaning it is not used for tractive power.
[3] See NS-1 Rules for Equipment Operation and Handling, effective January 1, 2019.
[4] The waybill locomotives were moved by four trains before being added to train 245A109 on the day of the derailment.
[5] The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division spells employees with one final e.

Also, FWIW, the NTSB's low resolution photo labeled "Second derailment site" appears to show double stack cars derailed, so the 108 car long train *may* have included 3 and/or 5-platform long double stack cars.

SD70dude · **Posted:** Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:00 pm

This same type of incident happened over 20 years ago in Alberta, only with a couple of CN's own yard engines (rebuilt GP9RMs). We still have some units without alignment control couplers, in particular our Calgary, Alberta terminal (where this train was destined) still has quite a bit of industrial trackage with very tight curves, which only certain units are allowed to operate on.

https://tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/ ... c0050.html

Similar to NS's, our operating manual still allows for the movement of one or two units without alignment control couplers in the lead consist, subject to restrictions on trailing tonnage and DB usage.

jayrod · **Posted:** Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:24 am

Looking at the topos in the area while slurping my morning coffee, it’s down hill towards Anniston from the east. So I’m gonna guess a little over-exuberant use of DB is a likely large contributing factor. IIRC, DB was originally intended as a supplemental braking system. Nowadays, they use it as the main brake so you don’t have to pay people to change brake shoes. With a mile long or longer train your buff forces on the front end have to be tremendous.

mmi16 · **Joined:** Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:05 pm **Posts:** 198

And it isn't like alignment blocks are some fancy new invention! They have been required in road operations since the 1950's.

Randy Gustafson · **Posted:** Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:31 am

What's most interesting to me about L-212 is that it doesn't prohibit alignment control couplers UNLESS it is two locomotives together both without alignment control, which is a kinda Calvinball rule that came out to bite them here with the STB.