Hours after a 28-car Norfolk Southern prepare derailed Saturday in Springfield, Ohio — the third incident for the freight railroad in simply over a month, together with the poisonous catastrophe in East Palestine, Ohio — inner emails present railroad officers making broad security changes for rail automobiles.

An inner Norfolk Southern e-mail despatched Sunday and obtained by CNBC with a time stamp roughly 11 hours after the most recent derailment indicated that Norfolk Southern was planning to scale back prepare size in an effort to forestall future incidents. Sources inform CNBC the e-mail was given to Norfolk Southern yard managers, who’re union employees in command of stacking the trains.

A Norfolk Southern spokesman advised CNBC that steering has since been up to date and the prepare provider is now mandating that any trains over 10,000 ft use distributed energy, that means the trains can be powered from a number of places throughout the size of the prepare, not simply from the entrance. Distributed locomotives are wirelessly managed from the main locomotive in each energy and braking as wanted to help within the administration of in-train forces.

Norfolk Southern advised CNBC different railroad carriers presently have this security apply in place.

“At Norfolk Southern, the security of our crews and the communities we serve comes first,” Connor Spielmaker, spokesman for Norfolk Southern, wrote by way of e-mail. “A part of enhancing security is repeatedly evaluating how we function our community, and we have now been analyzing quick methods to maneuver that objective ahead. At the moment, as an interim step, we’re guaranteeing all trains longer than 10,000 ft are operated with distributive energy. We are going to construct on this interim change to drive ultimate insurance policies which might be acceptable for every phase of our railroad.”

Norfolk Southern advised CNBC it’s actively reviewing all security protocols to verify trains are working appropriately throughout the community.

Nonetheless, Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART-Transportation Division, the nation’s largest rail union, mentioned his employees are being advised the railroad will restrict prepare size.

“I’ve seen Norfolk Southern paperwork to yardmasters [Monday] morning from the sphere that’s telling us trains not than 10,000 ft no matter distributed energy,” mentioned Ferguson. “The prepare that derailed on Saturday already had distributed energy, so their remark to CNBC doesn’t make sense. I’ll say it’s a good transfer by Norfolk Southern to take the suitable steps in lowering the prepare lengths, as a result of the trains are too lengthy.”

Practice lengths have been a contentious situation for railroads and labor unions in negotiations. Railroads presently run on what’s known as precision scheduled railroading, or PSR, which has led to for much longer trains — so long as three miles.

Trains are stacked primarily based on the vacation spot, not weight distribution, with stacking of the primary vacation spot on the head of the prepare and in sequence till the final drop-off.

Railroads have redesigned prepare size in an effort to make use of fewer individuals and to maneuver extra automobiles with fewer locomotives, lowering prices and producing larger earnings. However railroad unions and clients have raised security and repair considerations.

The derailment in Springfield marks the third derailment for the reason that Feb. 3 East Palestine prepare catastrophe, wherein hazardous supplies spilled.

On Feb. 16, a 135-car Norfolk Southern prepare touring from Detroit to Peru, Indiana, derailed roughly 14 miles exterior the yard in Romulus, Michigan. Based on the investigative report for that incident, the tonnage profile exhibits heavy automobiles on the head of the prepare, within the center and within the rear, with empty automobiles scattered all through.

The derailment remains to be underneath investigation, however in accordance with one on-site investigation report, human error is prone to be a big issue: An “engineer panicked and utilized heavy dynamic braking which resulted in an emergency brake software and derailment.”

The Nationwide Transportation Security Board introduced it’s sending investigators to the Springfield web site.