Norfolk Southern rule that railcars be inspected in less than a minute sparks safety concerns

Norfolk Southern sparked renewed concerns about flaws being missed during railcar inspections when it told employees this week they should spend no more than a minute looking at each car. But the Atlanta-based railroad said the rule simply reflects the current industry standard, and there are no plans for disciplining employees for missing that one-minute target.

Rail unions have been raising the alarm for several years now about inspections being rushed across the industry in the wake of the railroads eliminating one-third of all the jobs as they adopted the current lean operating model that has become the standard.

The Federal Railroad Administration’s Chief Safety Officer Karl Alexy said the agency was already tracking inspection times closely across the industry before the new announcement from Norfolk Southern, and the agency will be watching how the railroad implements it.