Railway transportation of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) is common and is generally considered safe. However, transporting toxic, flammable, and explosive substances via railways carries significant risk due to their high volume, proximity to populated areas, low public awareness, and potential domino effect. Particularly, the practice has come into question after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio in February of 2023. This derailment continuously reminds the public and the industry that such incidents can profoundly affect a community, critical infrastructure, and the environment. To identify the root cause of the Ohio train derailment and discover the deficiency of the safety system applied, combining the cause mapping approach with the safety triad concept was employed in this study. Based on this approach and the preliminary incident investigation released by the National Transportation Safety Board, the incident sequence is established, and the causal events leading to this incident are identified in the three essential pillars of its safety system: prevention, mitigation, and response, respectively. The study subsequently develops recommendations to improve the safety system of HAZMAT freight trains. This is expected to lower further the probability and consequence of HAZMAT freight train incidents and ultimately result in long‐term changes in railroad transportation.

中文翻译：

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铁路危险品运输：事故调查及2023年脱轨案例研究

危险材料 (HAZMAT) 的铁路运输很常见，并且通常被认为是安全的。然而，通过铁路运输有毒、易燃、易爆物质，由于运量大、靠近人口稠密地区、公众意识低以及潜在的多米诺骨牌效应，存在巨大风险。特别是，2023 年 2 月诺福克南方火车在俄亥俄州脱轨后，这种做法受到了质疑。这次脱轨事件不断提醒公众和行业，此类事件可能会对社区、关键基础设施和环境产生深远影响。为了查明俄亥俄州火车出轨的根本原因并发现所应用的安全系统的缺陷，本研究采用了原因图谱方法与安全三元组概念相结合。根据这种方法和国家运输安全委员会发布的初步事件调查，确定了事件序列，并在其安全系统的三个基本支柱中确定了导致该事件的因果事件：预防、缓解和响应，分别。该研究随后提出了改进危险品货运列车安全系统的建议。预计这将进一步降低危险品货运列车事故的概率和后果，并最终导致铁路运输的长期变化。