Authorities have said the latest Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio this Saturday did not result in any hazardous materials spillage and poses no health risks.
Nevertheless, more than 1,500 Clark County residents were left without power and those within 300 feet of the site were told to take shelter “out of caution.”
The 22-car derailment came just a month after a massive 38-car accident in eastern Palestine made international headlines on Feb. 3 and marks the company’s fourth derailment in the state in less than five months.
Ohio is among the top four states in train derailments, with 128 derailments between 2018 and 2021, This is reported by the US Department of Transportation.
Authorities have assured residents that the latest Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio this Saturday did not result in any hazardous materials leaking
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio (pictured in February at the scene of the derailment in eastern Palestine) described the most recent crash as “unacceptable” and last week introduced new legislation to improve rail safety
Clark County officials say about 20 of the southbound train’s 212 cars, including four tankers, derailed at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday.
The four tankers contain non-hazardous materials, which are not considered hazardous. Two carried a residual amount of diesel exhaust fluid and two others carried a residual amount of polyacrylamide water solution, they said.
It happened at Ohio 41, near the Prime Ohio Business Park near Springfield, about 74 miles west of the state capital of Columbus.
Sandusky, Steubenville, East Palestine and now Springfield – all in the last five months. This is unacceptable,” Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown wrote on Twitter.
Brown is now one of the few leaders who wants stricter legislation to limit how Norfolk Southern and other rail companies are allowed to operate.
“That is why we must now pass my bipartisan railway safety law,” he added. Brown introduced the legislation last Wednesday with Republican JD Vance and four other senators.
“We know overheated wheel bearings are the cause of most (derailments), we don’t do the inspections properly. That’s going to change,” Brown said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
Brown also blamed the way railroad companies such as Norfolk Southern have tried to cut costs by laying off engineers who can oversee trains.
“The railroads want to be able to run 150 or 200 cars through a community with one driver, one employee, because they keep laying people off,” he added.
He also said he wants to see inspections of the operators.
“We want to see more inspections, these inspections because they’ve laid off so many workers, they’re really just cursory inspections on the rails, on the coupling of the wagons, on the locomotives,” he added.
“If you lay off a third of the workforce, you are clearly jeopardizing the work of those employees.”
The train had about 22 cars derailed. Four tankers contained non-hazardous waste material, including residual amounts of diesel exhaust fluid and residual polyacrylamide water solution
Authorities in Ohio said there was no indication of any public health risk from the Norfolk Southern freight train derailment.
About 1,500 Clark County residents were without power on Saturday after the derailment
Authorities in Ohio said there was no indication of any public health risk from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train, which occurred between Dayton and Columbus.
As a precaution, residents living within 300 feet were asked to shelter in place and in response, firefighters deployed the county hazmat team as a precautionary measure, but officials said early Sunday morning that the train was not carrying any hazardous materials and that there was “no indication of any injuries.” or risk to public health at this time.’
A crew from Norfolk Southern, the hazmat team and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency “each independently examined the crash site and verified that there was no evidence of spillage at the site,” officials said.
Norfolk Southern said no hazardous materials were involved, county officials said earlier.
County officials also say environmental officials have confirmed the derailment is not near a protected water source, meaning there is no risk to public water systems or private wells.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted Saturday night that he had been briefed by Federal Railroad Administration staff about the derailment and that he had also spoken with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
“No release of hazardous material has been reported, but we will continue to monitor closely and FRA personnel are on their way,” Buttigieg said.
DeWine said late Saturday night that President Biden and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called him “offering help from the federal government.”
During the train accident on 3 February, hazardous substances were released into the air, soil and nearby surface waters
The derailment of the Norfolk Southern train a month ago in the eastern Palestine city sparked a massive fire and led to the evacuation of thousands of residents
On February 3, 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, in northeastern Ohio near Pennsylvania, burning several cars carrying hazardous materials.
While no one was injured, nearby neighborhoods in both states were at risk.
The crash prompted an evacuation of about half of the city’s approximately 5,000 residents, an ongoing multi-governmental emergency response, and continued concerns among villagers about long-term health consequences.