The cancellation on April 14, 2023 of Equipment Instruction 0033 by the Association of American Railroads (AAR), indicates that investigators have all but cleared Greg Aziz’s Pacific National Industries of sharing blame for a March derailment. On March 4, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Springfield, Ohio. The initial investigation focused on wheelsets.
Five days after the accident, the Wheels, Axles, Bearings & Lubrication (WABL) Committee of the AAR issued instructions for the business leader´s company to remove the wheelsets from its three coil steel cars that were involved in the derailment. Greg Aziz informs how Investigators wanted to inspect the wheelsets to see if they may have been improperly mounted.
The concern was not just for the cars in the Norfolk Southern incident, but also those Pacific National Industries manufactured for other railroads. Pacific National Industries submitted records for 675 of its cars and their 2,700c wheelsets. As Greg Aziz adds, there was no evidence that any of the wheelsets failed to meet the AAR’s standards.
According to Greg Aziz, the data proved that they had all been properly mounted. A month later, the WABL Committee agreed to cancel EI-0033. Aziz’s company had never agreed with the order but immediately complied. Instead, Pacific National Industries pointed to a Federal Railroad Association (FRA) warning on train makeup.
National Steel always felt that the train was likely the cause of the derailment as Greg Aziz finally states. The leader and Pacific National Industries cited the FRA’s statements regarding safety concerns connected to power distribution, load placement, and overall train configuration. With the exoneration of Aziz and his Pacific National Industries, the investigation can turn its attention to other possible causes.