A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed Saturday near Springfield, Ohio, the second derailment of a company train in the state in a month. 28 cars, four of which were empty tankers, derailed at around 4:45 p.m. near a business park and county fairgrounds, 46 miles west of Columbus.
As a precaution, residents living within 1,000 feet were asked to shelter in place and the county hazmat team was deployed, but officials Sunday morning said there were no injuries or risks to public health. Officials confirmed Sunday afternoon that no hazardous materials were involved in the derailment.
Kraig Barner, the general manager of Norfolk Southern, said that two other cars on the train were carrying liquid propane and two more were carrying ethanol. The rest of the cars were carrying different kinds of freight. Two of the four empty tanker cars that went off the track had been carrying diesel exhaust fluid, and the other two still had some leftover polyacrylamide water solution, which is often used to treat wastewater.
He said that neither the public nor the train’s two-person crew were hurt. The cause of the derailment is being looked into, and the Federal Railroad Administration will be told what they find.
Late Saturday night, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said that President Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had called him “to offer help from the federal government.”
On Feb. 3, 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Some of the cars were carrying dangerous materials, and some of them caught fire. About half of the town’s roughly 5,000 residents had to leave because of the crash, and there is still a multi-government emergency response going on.