USA: Norfolk Southern freight train derails again in Ohio

Ohio officials have informed the public that there is no safety risk to public health following the latest derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train between Dayton and Columbus.

It is the second time that the company’s freight trains derail in the state in the last month.

About 20 of the 212 cars on the southbound train derailed at 4:45 pm Saturday near a business park in Springfield Township. The crash site is near the Clark County Amusement Park and is approximately 46 miles (74 kilometers) west of Columbus, the capital of the state of Ohio.

Residents evacuated but no threat to the public

Residents living within 1,000 feet of the site were ordered to take shelter as firefighters, and a county hazmat team was deployed to the area as a precaution.

Earlier on Sunday, officials said the threat to the public was nil and there was “no indication of injuries”.

Teams from the freight company, the hazmat teams and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency supported the claim.

Of the tankers involved in the derailment, two were carrying residual amounts of diesel exhaust fluid, while another two contained residual amounts of aqueous polyacrylamide solution. The latter, officials described as “common industrial products shipped by rail”.

Late Saturday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said President Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had called “to offer help from the federal government.”

East Palestine derailment fuels political attacks on Biden

Last month, on February 3, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in the town of East Palestine, Ohio. Several of the 38 cars involved in that derailment were carrying hazardous materials.

About half of the East Palestinian city, population 5,000, had to be evacuated after the accident.

Residents are now concerned about the long-term health effects after authorities determined that the best court would be to organize a controlled burn of the site, as there were no effective clean-up solutions for the dangerous dump. Millions of pounds of toxic chemicals are released from the ground into the atmosphere.

The US Environmental Protection Agency required the freight rail company to pay the full cost of cleaning up the derailment and chemical burn of eastern Palestine.

East Palestine is about 290 kilometers northeast of the last derailment.

Republicans used the rail incident to attack US President Joe Biden, a train buff who brought the hope of Amtrak to Delaware when he was a US senator.

ar/jcg (AP, Reuters)