WASHINGTON — Norfolk Southern Railway Co. has agreed to pay a $4 million penalty to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and hazardous materials laws for a 2005 chlorine spill in Graniteville, S.C., the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced.

WASHINGTON — Washington Metro said it will install rollback protection software on all 182 of its 5000 series rail cars.

WASHINGTON — Washington Metro will repair door control units on 546 rail cars, which will enhance passenger safety once Metro resumes automatic train operations.

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board makes the following recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration: Require the installation, in all controlling locomotive cabs and cab car operating compartments, of crash- and fire-protected inward- and outward-facing audio and image recorders capable of providing recordings to verify that train crew actions are in accordance with rules and procedures that are essential to safety as well as train operating conditions.

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board issued its 2010 Federal Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements, adding rail, aviation and marine issues, and updating the status of other issues on the list.
At the same time, the Board removed the issue areas dealing with improved protection for school bus passengers and fatigue in the [...]

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched an investigator to a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) derailment in Washington, DC.
NTSB has designated Jim Southworth, Chief, Railroad Division, as the Investigator-in-Charge.
At 10:15 am, (EST), a northbound WMATA Red Line train, consisting of six train cars, derailed north of the Farragut North station. There [...]

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public Board meeting Thursday, February 18, at 9:30 a.m., in its Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C.
The Board will review its list of Most Wanted safety recommendations directed at federal agencies. The Most Wanted List was developed in 1990 to [...]

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a team of investigators to today’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) accident in Rockville, Md.
At 1:45 am (EST) a hi-rail vehicle, in the work zone on the red line near Rockville Station, struck and killed two employees on the track.
The Metro employees, both males, were [...]

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities want trains to be equipped with audio and image recorders capable of providing recordings to verify that train crew actions are in accordance with rules and procedures that are essential to safety as well as train operating conditions. The recommendation was part of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into a fatal 2008 Metrolink wreck.

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a Board meeting on Jan. 21to discuss a fatal 2008 Metrolinktrain crash.
At 4:22 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2008, Metrolink commuter train 111 and a Union Pacific freight train collided. As a result of this head-on accident, there were 25 fatalities and numerous injuries.
On the day [...]