NTSB called to investigate Iron City train derailment; no toxic chemicals involved

Mar. 9—OXFORD — The National Transportation Safety Board is responding to Calhoun County for an investigation of the Norfolk Southern train derailment which occurred Thursday morning in Iron City near White Plains.

Local emergency agencies were notified of the incident at 6:45 a.m.

Miles Chamblee of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency said the EMA coordinated initial response efforts with the Quad Cities and Oxford fire departments as well as representatives from Norfolk Southern.

"There were no injuries, fire or road blockages involved," Chamblee said.

Norfolk Southern Senior communications manager Connor Spielmaker confirmed during a Thursday afternoon press conference there were 37 cars involved in the derailment of a train

headed west from Atlanta.

"Most of those cars were carrying mixed freight and two of those cars were what we call 'residue hazardous material cars' meaning they had previously carried a hazardous material as defined by the Department of Transportation," Spielmaker said. "They did not have a load in them. They did not breach. There is not a hazardous material leak. There is no risk to the public."

But there was a tangled mess. In addition to the several toppled train cars, "it's torn the tracks all up" and railway traffic will be disrupted for some time, Calhoun County Sheriff's office Lt. Falon Hurst said Thursday morning

Spielmaker said the chemical residue that was in the derailed cars was from a solution used for water treatment, adding that Norfolk Southern routinely works with and builds relationships with local emergency agencies "to make sure they are prepared to respond to any type of train accident."

"We do work with first responders to provide information in general on the types of materials coming through so they can create a response plan that is workable if there were something to happen," Spielmaker said.

Chamblee said the local EMA had recently performed exercises to prepare for a potential derailment.

"Fortunately in this case, there were no hazardous materials and we were able to work with Norfolk Southern, the county sheriff's office, the Quad City and Oxford fire departments and were able to respond effectively," Chamblee said.

Spielmaker could provide no specifics on the current condition of the track where the derailment occurred but said Norfolk Southern spends over $1 billion on track maintenance each year.

He said the site is a difficult one to reach and Norfolk Southern is having to work with landowners in order to get the proper equipment to the wreckage for cleanup efforts "to be done as safely as possible."

One of those landowners, Cindy Underwood, said "it looked like a tangled mess," when she viewed images of the wreck her neighbors shared with her. The derailment happened not quite a quarter of a mile from her house, Underwood told The Anniston Star.

Interviewed by phone while she was driving in the area, she said around noon Thursday that heavy equipment "was everywhere" and she was having to maneuver around it.

Underwood, 65, said she can see the single Norfolk Southern track from her porch. In the nearly five years she's lived in the Iron City area, where sometimes 10-15 trains come through daily, there've been no other derailments.

"They're always coming through working on [the tracks]," she said, noting that the crossties along her stretch of track had been replaced late last summer.

"They do a lot of maintenance on the tracks, so I can't say anything negative about that," Underwood said, adding that sometimes the speed of some of the longer trains coming through does catch her attention.

"My husband and I have noticed how fast some of the bigger trains have been going this past year, and usually they blow their horns before they cross the road. However, we've also noticed how some of the trains have crossed without blowing their horn."

At the press conference, Spielmaker said the term "derailment" does not necessarily mean all the cars involved were damaged.

"Just having one wheel off the track is a derailment," he said.

Spielmaker acknowledged the awkward timing of the Calhoun County event as it happened just hours prior to the Norfolk Southern CEO Allan Shaw beginning testimony before a U.S. Senate committee about the recent derailments with special attention to the one which spilled toxic chemicals in Ohio.

"We are looking at all of these incidents and figuring out how we can be an even safer railway," Spielmaker said. "Rail transportation remains the safest way in this country to transport any type of material. We are required to move these items in order to help America's economy and moving them safely is our top priority."

"These recent incidents are receiving a lot of coverage right now and that makes sense, [the community] needs to know safety is our top priority and we will learn from these things," Spielmaker said.

There is no firm timetable established for how long it will take for the site to be cleared.

— With reporting from Ashley Morrison, Sherry Kughn and Bill Edwards of The Anniston Star

Staff Writer Brian Graves: 256-236-1551.