Norfolk Southern hopes to help pay the $600 million class action settlement that has agreed to a tragic 2023 train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and agreed to agree to a toxic chemical released and burnt.
The Railways have filed an application that will go to trial from Monday to force railcar owner GATX and chemical maker Oxyvinil to share the cost of the settlement, as it believes Norfolk Southern is partially responsible for what happened in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, 2023.
The lawsuit changes nothing about the amount that residents will receive from settlements or payments received by the village or someone else. This case only affects companies that have to write a check to pay for class action payments.
Residents are still waiting to receive most of the money from the settlement due to pending appeal, but some payments have begun to go outside.
A selection of chemicals that spill after the train derailed in East Palestine, and the train spills and causes fire. Three days later, authorities blew five tank cars filled with polyvinyl chloride, fearing that they would explode, spread over the town, producing huge black smoke that forced them to evacuate.
Many residents are still worried about the potential health effects of these chemicals today.
The derailment was the worst rail disaster as crude oil trains destroyed the small Canadian town of lac-megantic, killing 47 people in 2013. It urged the United States to focus on railroad safety and reform.
Norfolk Southern says businesses share responsibility
Norfolk Southern has already lost a similar lawsuit when it attempted to force GATX and Oxyvinyl to help GATX and Oxyvinyl pay for environmental cleanup after a derailment that cost more than $1 billion on the Atlanta-based railroad. A similar argument is again debated to try and help pay for a class action settlement.
“Norfolk Southern alone paid the costs associated with derailment despite ample evidence that other parties share responsibility. The trial is to strengthen the role that shippers and rail car owners play in the safety of transportation, ensuring that all responsible persons pay a fair share,” the railway said in a statement.
Norfolk Southern, like most railways, does not own the majority of the vehicles it carries, and the railway says that everyone involved in the transport of hazardous chemicals is responsible for ensuring safety under federal regulations.
Norfolk Southern argues that Gut is responsible for the derailment. Because it claims to be responsible for the derailment because it owns a railcar filled with plastic pellets that causes derailment when endured, failing that night, and causing derailment when sending 38 cars off the railroad.
Norfolk Southern also said it believes oxyvinyl should pay as the railroad says the chemical manufacturer will provide inconsistent and inaccurate information about vinyl chloride before officials decide to release it and burn it.
The company says Norfolk Southern was in charge of safety
Gatx and Oxyvinyls say it’s ridiculous to hold Norfolk Southern responsible for derailing when it’s responsible for operating and inspecting trains and all cars and delivering freight safely.
“Norfolk Southern’s claims against GATX are unfounded,” the railcar owner said in a statement.
GATX said it complies with all relevant regulations for caring for railroad vehicles. The company said that even if the car was damaged six years ago by parking in the middle of a flood at Hurricane Harvey, the railroad should have spotted the problem, repaired it, and sent a bill to Gut for repairs.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the crash was caused by a failed overheating of GATX railcars. Railway sensors found bearings began to heat up in the miles before derailment, but they reached critical temperature until just before derailment and did not cause an alarm. This left the crew scarcely time to stop the train.
Norfolk Southern recommended vents and combustion operations to release polyvinyl chloride, based on information on chemicals previously published by Oxyvinyl, partially based on information on chemicals that suggest that chemical reactions could occur and the tanker could explode.
However, the NTSB confirmed in its investigation that it was not necessary as the tanker cars began to cool down and the railway was unable to listen to advice from oxyvinyl experts or shared opinions with officials who made the decision.
“This trial is nothing more than a continuing attempt by Norfolk Southern to change its responsibility, attention and financial responsibility for derailing, responding to trains, and for decisions to reverse, respond and burn to anyone other than itself,” the Texas-based company said. “Oxyvinyl did not cause derailment, tank cars were not violated, and we did not decide to discharge and burn VCM (vinyl chloride monomer) cars.”
The exam is expected to last for 2-3 weeks.
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