An ounce of prevention… hot bearings in the hot seat

When a bearing system is neglected, or a problem goes unnoticed, we have a specific phrase for the subsequent event — catastrophic bearing failure. It’s hard to think of a recent incident that encapsulates the expression quite like last winter’s devasting Norfolk Southern trainwreck in East Palestine, OH.

The National Transportation Safety Board suspects hot wheel bearings could have been at least partially responsible. The crash derailed 38 of 149 railcars, the lives of residents all throughout the small Ohio town, and the full scope of the larger environmental impact is still being calculated five months later. A trainwreck indeed. And that’s to say nothing of peace of mind for folks that live near tracks — a reality that hits particularly close to home for me. I also live in Ohio, near tracks, and write about bearings for a living. A little extra railway anxiety feels unavoidable. Each morning, as my car crosses the “T” of those tracks, I can’t help but think, what if…? Here’s a railway safety Rorschach test: According to data from the Federal Railroad Administration, there were over 1,100 derailments in 2022 alone. But of those 1,100+, there was only one fatality and 16 injuries… I have trouble deciding if those numbers make me feel better, or worse.

Recently, I reached out to Jeremy Luchies, who specializes in lubrication solutions for the Semiconductor, Aerospace, and Bearing segments for FUCHS Lubricants Co. I asked him about some of the ways bearing failure can be prevented. He said, “Catastrophes can take many forms, from economic crises to fatal disasters. When these catastrophic events hit the news, the first questions usually asked are how mechanical failures.” did this happen, and how can we prevent this from happening again? Often, these catastrophes, caused by mechanical or human error, could have been prevented with the proper precautions. Insu cient maintenance, faulty components, and a lack of, or malfunctioning diagnostic technology, are a few of the preventable causes of

To be fair, both the NTSB and a late-March DOJ lawsuit stop short of accusing NS of negligence. Trackside “hot-box detectors” did recognize a temperature spike in a wheel bearing, and the engineer did begin to stop the train after the alarm sounded. But it was too late. The railroad industry has long been criticized for insu cient regulatory measures. So, if things were, in fact, handled by the book, and a catastrophic derailment was the result regardless, perhaps the book needs a rewrite. In the near decade that I have spent covering the bearing industry for Design World, making bearings safer has always seemed paramount to the companies I interact with. Reliability is the lifeblood of their products. Either through better predictive maintenance, tribological properties, anticounterfeiting practices, or other advances, bearing companies appear to hold safety as a top priority. Bearings are critical components for countless applications — especially trains. I hope NS, and other railroad companies like it, begin to treat these components with the care and attention that the original bearing manufacturers already do. DW