Neighborhoods along the Norfolk South Railroad in Whitemarsh Town outside Philadelphia were ordered to evacuate as a precautionary measure after 16 CSX freight cars – one of them carrying a dangerous chemicals – derailed early Monday morning. Thankfully in this case, nothing but plastic seems to have spilled out of the wreck and no one was injured.
The derailment happened just before 5 a.m. local time and the train in question pulled 40 carriages. Among the cars that exploded, one contained tetrachlorethylene, a degreaser used in dry cleaning that has been identified by the EPA as a potential carcinogen; five people carrying liquid fecal urea; and one person with a silicone tablet, each WPVI.
The rest of the derailed cars were all empty and only silicon pellets were found near the tracks according to one report. Whitemarsh . Town Police Department Facebook post. CSX itself has reported “no signs of hazardous material leaks or spills” on its own. Press Release.
By 9:30 a.m., residents of 12 homes near the evacuation site were able to return. Cleanup plans are underway and CSX and Norfolk Southern said independence that they will assist state and local governments as the Federal Railroad Administration leads an investigation.
As for the cause, CSX’s release said it “seems” to be “weather related”. The weather in Montgomery County was moderate at the time of the derailment, with no rain, 70 degrees, and 3 mph winds, according to historical data from National Weather Service.
Longer-than-ever trains run by skeleton crews have been cited as the culprit behind freight derailments in recent years. Compare to what happened in East Palestine, Ohio Earlier this year, Monday’s train was significantly smaller with less than half the number of cars. The locals can breathe a sigh of relief because this doesn’t look like February’s worst case scenario, but the way things are goingthat may not give much confidence for the future.
