NTSB Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Point Pleasant’s Silver Bridge Disaster In 1967 Improved Bridge Safety

The Silver Bridge collapse, on the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, killed 46 people. After it, the Federal Highway Administration began using National Bridge Inspection Standards.

The collapse of a highway bridge in Baltimore Harbor may remind some West Virginians of a tragedy that changed how bridges nationwide are inspected.

Before the Silver Bridge failed on the evening of Dec. 15, 1967, there was no national standard for bridge inspection.

The Silver Bridge collapse, on the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, killed 46 people. In 1971, the Federal Highway Administration began using National Bridge Inspection Standards.

They required the inspection of bridges and their components at least once every two years, with emphasis on fractures, corrosion and fatigue – all of which played a part in the Silver Bridge’s failure.

Stan Bumgardner, a state historian and editor of the West Virginia Encyclopedia, says technology today could have spotted the hidden flaw in the Silver Bridge. It couldn’t then.

“Now, today, they have, you know, techniques where you can get cameras, and you can see places where you couldn’t have seen in 1967. But in 1967 nobody really ever faulted the bridge inspectors for missing anything, just because it wasn’t part of the routine to check for that. And it would have been virtually impossible, they would have had to have been looking for. a needle in a haystack and knowing where the needle was, and still trying to find it.”

Bumgardner says he’s spoken to people in the community who not only remember that day, but remember the people who were killed. Some were classmates or members of the same church. Some were neighbors. One man lost both his parents.

He says the memory is so strong, decades later, that incidents like the one in Baltimore remind people of it.

“I’m sure for people in Point Pleasant who remember, December the 15th 1967, that anytime there’s any of these bridge incidents, collapses, problems with where they have to shut down bridges, even where they’re even no deaths involved. I’m sure it takes all those people in Point Pleasant back to 1967. And they remember exactly where they were and how they felt right then.”

As with the Silver Bridge then, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the Baltimore collapse now. It could take the agency as long as two years to produce a report.

And from there, changes will be made to improve bridge safety from the lessons learned.

Capito: Senate Will Hold Hearing On Boeing 737 MAX 9 Panel Failure

Capito, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, says a hearing will be held “sooner than later” on the door panel that detached from a MAX aircraft in midflight.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito wants answers about an incident involving Boeing’s 737 MAX 9.

Capito, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, says a hearing will be held “sooner than later” on the door panel that detached from a MAX aircraft in midflight.

No one was seriously injured in the incident last week, at 16,000 feet, minutes after the Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland, Oregon. Still, Capito has many questions about it.

“Is it shoddy material? Is it shoddy work? Is it not enough inspections?” Capito said. “There’s all kinds of questions you can ask.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. Spirit Aerosystems, which makes the aircraft’s fuselage in Wichita, Kansas, and Boeing, which assembles the plane in Everett, Washington, are supporting the probe.

East Palestine First Responders Faced Communications Gap With Railroad

Not one of the first responders on the scene had access to an app that was created by the rail industry precisely for that kind of situation.

Fire departments from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia responded to the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. At first, they didn’t have a lot of information to work with.

Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that none of the first responders on the scene had access to an app that was created by the rail industry precisely for that kind of situation.

The AskRail app was created in 2014 to help first responders amid a series of derailments and fires involving trains carrying crude oil and ethanol.

Ian Jeffries, CEO of the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s principal lobbying group, said the app needs to be in more hands.

“There are a lot of first responders in this country,” he said, “and having 35,000 with the app is absolutely not sufficient, not where we need to be.”

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, a member of the Commerce Committee, said the railroad also needed to improve its communication.

“They were pledging safety and funds to help train, and things of this nature,” she said, “but they still have missed the ball in terms of communications.”

The NTSB is investigating the East Palestine derailment and separately probing Norfolk Southern’s safety culture. Since the Feb. 3 derailment, other crashes have occurred in Michigan, Ohio and Alabama.

Homendy said advance notification of hazardous materials moving through communities is key.

“Because they need to be prepared,” she said. “They need to be adequately trained, they need the right gear, and they need to have emergency response planning done in coordination with the railroads.”

Capito said a bipartisan bill to improve rail safety was likely coming in the next several months.

Meanwhile, East Palestine first responders were among the first to enroll in a hazardous materials training class in Bellevue, Ohio, paid for by Norfolk Southern.

The training class is available to first responders in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The first class began this week.

Capito Asks Why East Palestine Train Was Not Considered High Hazard

Officials at the scene made the decision to vent and burn five tank cars of vinyl chloride, creating a column of black smoke that darkened the sky over the community.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito asked witnesses in a hearing Wednesday about what kind of rail safety improvements are needed after last month’s fiery derailment in Ohio.

Capito, R-West Virginia, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, asked why the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, was not considered by federal definition to be of a higher level of hazard than other trains.

Officials at the scene made the decision to vent and burn five tank cars of vinyl chloride, creating a column of black smoke that darkened the sky over the community.

Capito asked Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, whether the definition of a high-hazard flammable train should be changed.

“Is that something you would consider that should be looked at as a safety improvement?” Capito asked.

“Yes, senator,” Homendy said.

The NTSB is investigating the derailment but has no regulatory authority. That kind of change would have to come from the U.S. Department of Transportation or Congress.

The definition was set by a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration rule issued in May 2015 following multiple derailments of trains carrying crude oil and ethanol, including one in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, in February 2015.

CSX Train Derails In New River Gorge, Injuring 3 Railroad Workers

In a statement, CSX said an empty coal train struck a rock slide before 5 a.m. near Sandstone. The train’s four locomotives derailed and one caught fire.

A CSX train derailed early Wednesday in the New River Gorge, but no life-threatening injuries or hazardous materials were involved, according to the railroad.

In a statement, CSX said a 109-car empty coal train struck a rock slide before 5 a.m. near Sandstone.

The train’s four locomotives derailed and one caught fire. One locomotive and one fuel tank went into the river, according to the West Virginia Emergency Management Division.

Three crew members were on board – an engineer, a conductor and an engineer trainee. All three were injured, CSX said, though to what extent was not immediately clear.

The railroad said an unknown quantity of diesel fuel spilled and that it would deploy containment measures in the New River.

The Department of Health and Human Resources notified local water systems that could be affected. West Virginia American Water is monitoring water quality and has not shut down any intakes.

Amtrak’s Cardinal was canceled in both directions through West Virginia because of the derailment.

The CSX derailment comes as another big eastern railroad, Norfolk Southern, faces intense scrutiny of its safety culture following a series of recent incidents.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday that it is investigating Norfolk Southern’s safety practices. The investigation follows two high-profile derailments in Ohio, including the one in East Palestine last month and another over the weekend in Springfield.

A Norfolk Southern conductor was also killed on the job Tuesday in Cleveland.

The NTSB sent teams to investigate all three Ohio incidents. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is scheduled to testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday.

“We must do better in terms of rail safety,” tweeted Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, the ranking member of the committee.

In February 2015, a CSX train carrying Bakken crude oil derailed in Mount Carbon, resulting in explosions and fires. Hundreds of local residents were evacuated, and one home was destroyed.

The derailment released 362,000 gallons of crude oil, according to a Federal Railroad Administration report.

In 2018, CSX reached a settlement in which it paid $1.2 million to the federal government and $1 million to West Virginia over the derailment’s impact to water quality in the area.

Investigators determined that a broken rail caused the Mount Carbon derailment.

3 Perish In Plane Crash In Northern West Virginia

A small plane carrying three people crashed in northern West Virginia Thursday.

The single engine Piper PA-32 aircraft took off from Shawnee Field Airport in Bloomfield, Indiana and was headed to Deck Airport in Myerstown, Pennsylvania.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane lost altitude before it crashed in a wooded area near Metz, in Marion County, about 90 miles south of Pittsburgh.

The aircraft was owned by Skyhawk Associates of Myerstown, Pennsylvania.

According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, the Mannington Volunteer Fire Department received a report around 7 p.m. of an aircraft down.

First responders located parts of wreckage in the Campbells Run area.

Three people, including the pilot and two passengers were killed. The names of the victims have not yet been released.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were expected to travel to the crash site Friday afternoon to begin their investigation.