Norfolk Southern implements state of the art AI train inspection portal outside of East Palestine

LEETONIA, Ohio — Rail safety has been a huge topic around the country, in Congress and here in Pittsburgh, especially following the derailment of a train hauling chemicals and hazardous materials in East Palestine just over one year ago.

Now, Norfolk Southern is rolling out new technology, never before seen, as part of its commitment to become the gold standard in safety.

Roughly 20 minutes west of East Palestine is a small village called Leetonia, Ohio. With a safety guide at our sides, we rode down the tracks that lead right to Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

In the middle of the small Ohio village, a massive, cutting-edge, contraption, looks like something from the future. It’s a machine visioning train inspection portal developed by Norfolk Southern in partnership with Georgia Tech Research Institution. The first one was installed just outside of East Palestine and the PA state line.

The train inspection portal is equipped with 38 high speed, high resolution, cameras, and dozens of lights. It uses AI to detect any issue on a train as it goes by to make sure it doesn’t become a larger issue.

We watched the technology in action. As a train approaches, the stadium-level lighting activates and cameras take 360-degree pictures as a train passes through a track speed.

“It has 38 optical cameras on it that are used by the Department of Defense to monitor rocket launches,” Norfolk Southern CEO, Alan Shaw tells Channel 11. “It takes approximately 1000 pics of each passing rail car and immediately uses AI to look for potential safety defects.”

“Terabytes of data at 60 MPH are processed instantaneously and sent to people who can take action on those alerts in real-time,” John Fleps, VP of Safety at Norfolk Southern adds. “Day or night, rain or shine, fog, sleet or snow.”

The artificial intelligence transmits information on potential defects to Norfolk Southern’s network operations center, where data is reviewed around the clock by experts to address any issues proactively. Critical defects are flagged so a train can be stopped and a fix can be made immediately.

“Not only is it important to have AI algorithms, it is critical to have effective algorithms that have very high defect detection rate while also having very low false alarms,” Mabby Amouie, Chief Data Scientist at Norfolk Southern adds.

Norfolk Southern says these inspection portals will be deployed throughout the company’s 22-state network. Norfolk Southern’s CEO, Alan Shaw says this commitment goes beyond technology.

“We’re investing in safety,” Shaw added. “We’re investing in processes and people, and we’ve hired an independent consultant - folks who used to run the navy nuclear program - reporting directly to me. I asked them to spend 2-3 years on our property, working with all 20,000 employees to make Norfolk Southern even safer.”

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