U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will meet with community members in East Palestine Thursday to discuss the Norfolk Southern hazardous train derailment on February 3.

According to the press release, Buttigieg will receive an update on the ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is expected to issue its initial findings on Thursday.

He is expected to hear from USDOT investigators who were on the ground in the hours after the Norfolk Southern derailment and are supporting the NTSB investigation.

The Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown will join Buttigieg.

The visit comes on the heels of Buttigieg calling on the rail industry and Congress to act to improve rail safety on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Buttigieg said he would visit the village when appropriate. Now that the EPA has said it is moving out of the emergency response phase and transitioning to the long-term remediation phase, Buttigieg announced his travel plan to accompany the NTSB preliminary report set to be released Thursday morning.

An official from the Department of Transportation told 21 News that the department will continue to do its part by helping get to the bottom of what caused the derailment and implementing rail safety measures, and hope this sudden bipartisan support for rail safety will result in meaningful changes in Congress.

Information on the time of the visit was not immediately provided.

After 10 am, NTSB will issue a preliminary report on the East Palestine derailment, and at 1 p.m., NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and Robert Hall, director of the NTSB Office of Railroad, will hold a press conference in Washington DC.

21 News will cover the event and will keep you up-to-date as information is made public.