No hazardous materials were found in the 28 cars of the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Springfield, Ohio, on Saturday evening, officials said at a news conference.
It was the second time the company’s trains had derailed in Ohio in as many weeks, following the February 3 derailment of a train carrying dangerous chemicals in eastern Palestine.
Multiple agencies responded to the train derailment in Clark County, about 38 minutes from Columbus, where the 212-car train was headed from Bellevue, Ohio, to Birmingham, Alabama, around 5 p.m., Norfolk Southern general manager of operations Craig Barner said.
“None of the derailed cars were carrying hazardous materials, and there were no injuries to the public or the two men who operated the train,” Barner said.
A compound commonly used to treat diesel exhaust fluid and wastewater, the derailment involved “four empty non-hazardous tank cars,” Barner said.
According to Ann Vogel, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, a car containing plastic particles was involved in the derailment and spilled a small amount into the soil, but the particles were not hazardous.
Agencies could not begin clean-up operations until Sunday morning as power lines became entangled in the derailment.
It is not known what caused the train to derail.
“This derailment, like all derailments, will be fully investigated and the findings will be turned over to the Federal Railroad Administration,” Barner said.
More than 1,500 people were without power after the derailment near the Clark County Fairgrounds, and the agency asked residents within 1,000 feet to stay in place, but it said it had not issued formal evacuation orders.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said first responders were on the scene Saturday night.
“We do not believe hazardous materials were involved,” he wrote Tweet. “President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg called on me to offer assistance from the federal government.”
Shawn Heaton The Springfield News-Sun said He waited at the junction as the train crossed the junction and captured the start of the derailment on video.
“I was there and I was playing on my phone when I heard a loud noise. And when I heard a loud boom, I started recording,” Heaton said. “When I heard the thunder, all kinds of debris and metal came out from under the cars, and that’s when I started recording, and you could see them start jumping off the tracks.”
On February 3, 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed at East Palestine in northeastern Ohio, near Pennsylvania, and several of the train’s cars carrying hazardous materials burned.
Although no one was injured, neighbors in both states were affected. The accident prompted the evacuation of half of the town’s roughly 5,000 residents, many of the government’s emergency response, and lingering concerns among villagers about long-term health impacts.
It was the fourth train derailment in Ohio in less than five months, with two more occurring in 2022. Sandusky and Stephenville.
“Sandusky, Steubenville, East Palestine and now Springfield — four Norfolk Southern derailments in five months because the company cares more about its profit margin than the safety of Ohioans,” Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH., said in a statement. “Ohio communities should not be forced to live in fear of another disaster.”
