Action
Notice of safety advisory.
Summary
This Safety Advisory recommends railroads utilize Wheel Impact Load Detectors (WILD) to properly identify and replace high-impact railcar wheels that could cause significant damage to rails and supporting track structures. FRA's preliminary investigation of a recent train derailment in Gothenburg, Nebraska, indicates that high- impact wheels damaged the rail the train was operating over and caused the derailment. Current industry practices for using WILDs to identify and replace high-impact wheels could help prevent such incidents in the future.