Investigation material in Joplin derailment release

The National Transportation Safety Board opened to the public this week its investigation docket on the Sept. 25, 2021 Empire Builder derailment near Joplin, which killed three and injured 44 others.

The docket includes 3,100 pages of documents on operations, track and engineering, signal and train control, and crashworthiness and survival factors, as well as interview transcripts and photographs.

A press release from NTSB said the docket is not complete and is restricted to reporting factual information so it does not include an analysis or list of probable causes, something that will be incl...