Equipment that failed before a freight train hauling toxic chemicals derailed in eastern Ohio is the focus Friday on the second day of a rare federal hearing in the small town closest to the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report that an overheating wheel bearing likely caused the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that sent a plume of toxic black smoke into the sky. Several tank cars were damaged in the crash, and officials decided that five of them containing vinyl chloride needed to be blown open to release the chemical and prevent an explosion.
