Using cameras and artificial intelligence developed in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology, the freight company plans to catch issues quicker.
Biden had promised to visit soon after the derailment. He has faced criticism from some residents and from former President Donald Trump, who made a trip to the community shortly after the disaster.
The East Palestine community is divided and exhausted, with many residents ready to move forward, even as others continue to raise concerns about the air and water.
From across the country, NPR member station visual journalists have documented events in their states and cities. These images represent some of the year's most remarkable stories.
The federal government is accusing Norfolk Southern of "unlawfully polluting" the country's waterways and violating the Clean Water Act in the accident near East Palestine.
Firefighters are often "woefully under-equipped" to handle train accidents that emit hazardous materials. Most of those serious enough to cause evacuations happened near small towns.
Federal investigators have announced a special investigation into railroad Norfolk Southern. The move follows a fiery derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in February and several other accidents.
Residents who say they're still suffering from illnesses nearly a month after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in Ohio confronted the railroad's operator Thursday at a town forum.
A wheel bearing on the train's 23rd car overheated to a dangerous degree, a new NTSB report says. An earlier warning may have helped to prevent the derailment, officials said.
Hundreds of worried people gathered to hear state officials tell them that testing so far has shown local air is safe to breathe and to promise that safety testing of the air and water would continue.
