EAST PALESTINE, Ohio - Just days after a second Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio over the past five weeks, the railroad on Monday announced a safety plan that includes more, and newer ways to detect potential problems that could cause derailments.

According to a media release from the railroad, the six-point plan is based on the preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board following the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment.

The first item on the railroad’s initiative stems from the NTSB’s preliminary finding that an overheated wheel bearing is the suspected culprit that eventually caused the East Palestine derailment.

Although the NTSB reported that wayside hot bearing detectors were operating as designed before the East Palestine derailment,  Norfolk Southern says it will evaluate the distance between hot bearing detectors, which currently averages 13.9 miles on its core network.

The company says will examine every location on its core network where the distance is more than 15 miles and develop a plan to deploy additional detectors where practical due to terrain and operating conditions.

 The railroad says it anticipates adding approximately 200 hot bearing detectors to its network, with the first installed on the western approach to East Palestine.

Norfolk Southern also said it is working with manufactures to speed the testing and deployment of new safety technology that can scan a greater cross-section of a railcar's bearings and wheels.

According to the railroad, so-called "multi-scan" hot bearing detectors may offer the potential to catch overheated bearings more effectively.

In addition to more and better detectors, Norfolk Southern says it will review the current standards and practices for using the hot bearing detectors by reevaluating the temperature threshold at which an alarm is triggered, and perhaps provide earlier warnings of potential risks.

The NTSB’s preliminary report found that thirty miles before the East Palestine derailment site, a detector recorded that one of the wheel bearings was 38 degrees above the current air temperature at the time.

Ten miles later, the temperature of the car had increased to 103 degrees. Twenty miles after that, the temperature of train’s wheels reached 253 degrees.

Norfolk Southern says in addition to adding more hot bearing detectors, it plans to install bearing detectors that analyze vibration inside rail car axles and identify potential problems that visual inspections may not detect.

The rail company says it will add 13 new detectors to the five already in service, stationing these devices on high-traffic routes around its core network. 

Norfolk Southern announced that is partnering with Georgia Tech Research Institute to develop a next generation of advanced safety inspection technology, using artificial intelligence to identify defects and needed repairs more effectively than traditional human inspection. 

The company says it is accelerating the use of ultra-high-resolution cameras stationed in strategic locations around the rail network to provide a 360-degree health check on railcars, improving Norfolk Southern’s ability to detect, diagnose, and repair defects before they become issues, according to the railroad.

The next phase of the new camera technology is being installed on Norfolk Southern’s Premier Corridor, which connects the Midwest and Northeast and is on the line that runs through East Palestine.

As Norfolk Southern announced earlier, Norfolk Southern has agreed to join the Federal Railroad Administration's Confidential Close Call Reporting System which encourages railroad employees to speak up if they see something that is unsafe.