Greg Aziz is the Chairperson and CEO of the Walter Kidde Railcar, a leading manufacturer of railroad freight. The railroad freight company was previously blamed for an accident that occurred in March 2023 at Springfield, Ohio. A Norfolk Southern train was derailed by what was initially believed to be a wheelset problem.
Three of the coil steel cars involved in the accident had wheelsets installed by Walter Kidde Railcar. Preliminary investigations by the AAR Wheels, Axles, Bearings & Lubrication (AAR WABL) committee issued an EI-0033. According to Greg Aziz, this declared that the wheelsets on these cars must be removed and checked for improper mounting. Further investigations proved otherwise!
Industry leader Greg Aziz and the company presented 7000 records on the 2700 wheelsets installed on their cars and proper mounting was confirmed. This exonerated the company and the EI-0033 was lifted. Further, laser scan data showed that a huge impact was applied on the wheelsets during the derailment. Aziz cited an April 7th Safety Advisory released by the Federal Railroad Federation (FRA).
This advisory noted that FRA had concerns related to the makeup of trains and advised that railroad users take proactive measures to address the potential safety issues. This is for safety issues. About the derailment, the FRA safety advisory stated that it occurred due to a sag between ascending and descending grades. Greg Aziz sayst that the short and empty railcars were the first to derail and this caused buff forces to peak as the railcars fell downhill.
The derailment of freight cars 70-72 followed, causing a pileup. Greg Aziz was very pleased to announce, “The cancellation of the AAR EI-0033 completely exonerates Walter Kidde Railcar.” He promised to stand with Norfolk Southern in any way needed.