No Injuries in CN, SEPTA Derailments

No injuries were reported in derailments of Canadian National and SEPTA commuter trains.

The CN derailment occurred at 7:30 a.m. in Warren, Michigan, a suburban of Detroit and involved 12 cars leaving the rails.

The derailment snarled traffic during the morning rush hour.

News reports indicated that three of the derailed cars were tank cars carrying liquid chlorine and unrefined alcohol but they remained upright.

One of the cars was reporting to be leaking slightly but emergency officials said this did not pose a public hazard.

The train had 151 cars. Officials said the cleanup could last several days and traffic will continue to be disrupted.

Bus service on two routes was disrupted after a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train derailed late Wednesday morning as the train left the Trenton (New Jersey) Transportation Center.

The second and third cars of the four-car train bound for Philadelphia left the rails.

The train had 25 passengers aboard. New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor trains to Trenton were also affected by the derailment and were experiencing delays of up to an hour.

SEPTA suspended service between Philadelphia and Trenton while the train was re-railed and removed.

Five trains were cancelled and service issues continued into Thursday morning with trains cancelled in each direction. Other trains were delayed up to 10 minutes.

Southern H Unit Damaged in Derailment

The Southern Railway heritage unit of Norfolk Southern sustained damage on Sunday after hitting a rock slide and derailing near Pittsburgh.

ES44AC No. 8099 and another unit were pulling a 100-car intermodal train bound for Chicago when it struck the rock slide and derailed about 4 a.m. in the borough of Baldwin.

No injuries to the crew were reported and no hazardous materials involved, The 8099 was leading the train. Both locomotives derailed along with five cars.

Officials said the derailment occurred along the Monongahela River in an area that had experienced high winds and up to a half-inch of rain.

Trains magazine reported on its website that the status of No. 8099 has yet to be determined.

To see photographs of the damaged heritage locomotive visit https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/ns-derailment-damages-southern-railway-heritage-unit/

Derail Closes Pennsylvania Highway

The derailment of an R.J. Corman train in Pennsylvania this week collapsed a bridge that led to the closing of a state highway.

There were no injuries reported in the derailment.

The derailment occurred in Indiana County near Starford and resulted in the closing of Pennsylvania Route 1014.

The derailment left a hopper car dangling over a roadway where the bridge collapsed, Several other hopper cars were overturned.

No Injuries in Monday B&P Derailment

A derailment on Monday night of a Buffalo & Pittsburgh freight train resulted in the evacuation of 40 homes in East Aurora, New York, but no injuries.

A locomotive and 15 of the train’s 98 cars derailed. The cleanup was expected to take a couple of days.

The train was reported to be carrying petroleum products, but the only spill was of fuel from the locomotives.

The homes evacuated were in a four-block area around the tracks.

2 CSX Workers Hurt in Kentucky Derailment

Two CSX employees were hospitalized when their train derailed after striking a landslide and caught fire on Thursday morning in Draffin, Kentucky.

The two crew members were reported to have non-life threatening injuries at Pikeville Medical Center.

In a statement, CSX said the southbound train had three locomotives, 96 loaded ethanol cars and two loaded sand cars.

CSX said five of the cars derailed, including four ethanol tanks and one sand car.

The train was reported to be the K429-11 and the derailment occurred on the Kingsport Subdivision five miles north of Elkhorn City.

Lead unit AC4400CW No. 198 plunged nose first into the Big Sandy River.

Eyewitness accounts said the two crew members escaped through the nose of the 198 and stood partly submerged in the water yelling for help.

One resident who heard the crew said they were saying one of them was injured would need to be evacuated by boat or helicopter.

A boat sent by the Millard Fire Department arrived shortly thereafter and got the crew members off the locomotive before fire reached it.

The landslide is thought to have been triggered by two weeks of rain in the area.

The railroad said it had sent environmental monitoring devices to the scene.

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet was sampling water near the derailment site to ensure that was safe to drink.

Two water districts, Mountain Water District and the City of Pikeville, were affected but had employees on site to monitor and control the impact.

The derailment occurred near intake facilities for the water systems.

“We got a 911 call of a train derailment just above the Draffin bridge, which is where we’re standing here, and the engines were on fire,” said an emergency official. “Where the fire was at the time near the derailment, because of the where the fire was, in case of explosion.”

A man who lives near the derailment site said he saw an orange glow and flames were leading 50 to 60 feet into the air. Draffin is located in Pike County.

After the fire died down, CSX crews pulled the non derailed cars away from the scene.

Another landslide occurred at the site and pushed a tank car into the river.

NS Reopens Chicago Line at Swanton

Traffic was reported moving on the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern early Saturday morning in Swanton, Ohio, where a derailment late Thursday night blocked both mainline tracks and disrupted Amtrak operations.

An online report indicated that an eastbound train was coming into Swanton just before 4 a.m. as workers continued work to reopen both tracks through the town 20 miles southwest of Toledo.

The Blade of Toledo reported that NS expected to resume operations on one track late Friday and on the main by Saturday morning.

The derailment occurred about 10:15 p.m. when westbound stack train 25Z struck a vehicle on the tracks near the Main Street crossing. Two locomotives and 14 intermodal rail cars derailed.

There were no injuries resulting from the derailment although some rail cars came perilously close to hitting nearby homes.

The vehicle was unoccupied at the time of the collision and its driver fled the scene.

NS said that 12 of the derailed cars were carrying empty shipping containers while others had containers of , and two of the cars contained consumer products.

No hazardous materials were involved in the derailment. However, a fire broke out after a propane tank used for a switch heater ruptured.

Some NS trains were rerouted following the derailment. Online reports indicated that at least four trains detoured via Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Bellevue on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline.

Train 24N diverged onto the former Wabash at Butler, Indiana, and reached Toledo via Detroit.

At least one train diverged onto CSX at Berea and at least one intermodal train was to operate today on CSX between Buffalo, New York, to Chicago.

The train involved in the derailment had originated at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and was en route to Chicago.

The Blade reported that police are still investigating why the vehicle was on the tracks before the collision.

The derailment destroyed some utility poles, which knocked out power to more than 3,000 people. It was restored Friday morning shortly before 9 a.m.

Workers clearing the wreckage piled the containers in rows and at an athletic field near Swanton High School.

 

 

NS 25Z Derails in Swanton, Shutting Down the Chicago Line, Bringing Amtrak Trains to a Halt

Norfolk Southern container train 25Z derailed Thursday night after it struck a car abandoned on a crossing in Swanton, Ohio.

No injuries were reported, but the collision sent the car into a propane tank for a switch heater.

Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited were halted and shown on the Amtrak website as having a service disruption.

At 6 a.m. on Friday the Amtrak Track Your Train map showed Nos. 30 and 49 stopped in Bryan while Nos. 29 and 49 were in Toledo.

Online reports indicated that Amtrak would be operating a bus bridge.

A news media report quoted Swanton fire chief Mike Wolever as saying that a vehicle being driven by a female turned onto the tracks and stopped in the middle. The derailment was reported at 10:15 p.m.

Wolever said he believes that the same vehicle had hit a power pole, knocking out a transformer before it stopped on the tracks.

An online report said the vehicle was a Tahoe and the driver was a 25-year-old woman.

Fifteen of the cars on the train derailed with one hitting a nearby detached garage.

Ohio Edison said more than 1,800 homes in Swanton and more than 3,000 in Fulton County were without power.

Residents of the Arrowhead mobile home park were under a water boil advisory until samples are collected and deemed safe. The water system may have depressurized.

The derailment was reported to have occurred within the CP 307 interlocking.

Some nearby residents were evacuated for a time because a propane tank at the scene was venting.

The Toledo Blade reported that initial reports were that the passengers in the motor vehicle struck by the train left the scene before authorities arrived.

Swanton is 20 miles southwest of Toledo. Some Toledo fire department personnel were dispatched to the derailment scene to assist local emergency workers.

No Injuries in NS Pittsburgh Derailment Sunday

No injuries were reported after a Norfolk Southern train derailed on Sunday afternoon near Station Square in Pittsburgh.

However, rail cars fell down a hill and onto the light-rail tracks operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County.

The transit agency said that riders experienced delays heading to and from downtown Pittsburgh, as workers cleaned up the debris from the derailment.

Seven cars of a Chicago-bound double stack train derailed. NS said the derailed cars were carrying food products, beverages, housewares and other retail items.

NS sent cranes to the site to lift the rail cars and containers and stage them in a parking lot at Station Square where they will be loaded onto tractor-trailer or flatbed trucks for removal from the site.

The railroad said it expected to have the route, known as the Mon Line, cleared in 24 to 48 hours after the derailment.

“Norfolk Southern is actively pursuing detour and reroute options in an effort to minimize shipping delays and working closely with customers to meet their service needs,” an NS spokesman said.

The train of three locomotives and 57 loaded intermodal rail cars was 7,687 feet long and weighed 4,838 tons. NS officials are still seeking the cause of the derailment.

No Injuries in NS Derailment in Pennsylvania

No injuries occurred when five cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morning.

The cars landed in Stone Creek, a tributary of the Juniata River.

NS said that two of the cars were carrying hauling peas while the other three derailed cars carried dried potatoes, pulpboard, and plastic pellets.

The train was en route from Altoona to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and had 75 loaded and 10 empty cars.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation.

No Injuries in NS Sandusky District Derailment

No injuries were reported after a westbound Norfolk Southern stack train derailed late Monday near Attica on the railroad’s Sandusky District.

The Chicago-bound train derailed at 10:45 p.m. near Township Road 122. NS and R.J. Corman crews spent much of Tuesday cleaning up the derailment site.

NS spokesman Jonathan Glass said nine rail cars derailed. No hazardous materials were spilled during the incident.  The train had three locomotives and 53 cars. No cause for the derailment has been released.

With traffic backing up on Ohio Route 162 in Attica, the Ohio Department of Transportation set up a detour that was expected to be in place through Wednesday morning.

One lane of the road was blocked during the derailment cleanup.