What to Know
- A freight train derailment in Montgomery County spurred precautionary evacuations Monday morning, but officials said no injuries were reported and there was no known hazard to the public.
- The 40-car CSX train, which was operating on tracks owned by Norfolk Southern, derailed around 4:50 a.m. Monday in Whitemarsh Township.
- More than a dozen cars appeared to be off the tracks. Whitemarsh police said silicone pellets were leaking from at least one of them, but they posed no risk to the public.
A freight train derailed in Montgomery County Monday morning -- sending more than one dozen cars off the tracks, causing road closures in the area and evacuations.
The 40-car train derailed in a wooded area near Stenton Avenue and Joshua Road in Whitemarsh Township around 4:50 a.m., train operator CSX said.
"Whitemarsh Emergency Services is investigating the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in the Plymouth Meeting section of Whitemarsh Township. The derailment is located in the area bounded by Flourtown Road, Joshua Road and Stenton Avenue," Whitemarsh Township police said in a Facebook post.
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Initially reports were that only two to three freight cars derailed, Barren Hill Volunteer Fire Company Chief Chris Schwartz said at a late morning news conference. Within minutes, local responders were on the scene. Once on the scene, drones showed more than one dozen cars off the tracks.
What was on the derailed train?
CSX said that 16 train cars went off the tracks -- which appeared to be bent -- firefighters later said it was actually 15 train cars that derailed. Among the derailed cars were several containers -- some which appeared to have toppled onto the ground -- and several tankers that appeared to smash against each other. One tanker car was on its side.
A white substance appeared to be leaking from at least one tanker. Police later said in a Facebook post that the leaking substance was "silicone pellets which pose no risk to the community." Those pellets would need to be removed from the scene.
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Two of the tanker cars were empty, Schwartz said. Five cars, however, contained the liquid fertilizer urea and one car containing tetrachloroethylene, which is used as a dry cleaning agent and metal degreasing solvent, according to the CDC.
Hazmat crews were called to the scene to make sure none of the chemicals spilled.
Crews walked to tracks to make sure nothing else spilled.
"While preliminary reports indicate that one car transporting hazardous material was involved in the incident, there is no indication of any leaks or spills of hazardous materials and there are no injuries to the crew of the train," CSX said in a statement.
The materials in the crashed train cars would need to be carefully handled while righting the cars and unloading, officials said.
What roads were impacted?
Joshua Road was closed between Flourtown Road and Stenton Avenue, police said.
NBC10's Matt DeLucia was being told that residents along Camburn Road were being ordered to evacuate as a precaution.
Twelve nearby homes were evacuated shortly after the derailment was reported "out of an abundance of caution,” Whitemarsh Township Police Chief Christopher Ward said. Those residents were allowed to return to their homes around 9:30 a.m.
"The local fire department responded and declared an evacuation of just over a dozen homes out of an abundance of caution," CSX said.
No reports of injuries and police said there is "no known hazard to the public."
What caused the train to go off the rails?
Norfolk Southern told NBC10 that tracks where the derailment took place are owned by them. However, the train was being operated by CSX, Norfolk Southern said.
Norfolk Southern and CSX teams are on the scene and the Montgomery County’s Department of Public Safety Emergency Response Team is investigating, police said.
"The cause of the incident is under investigation," CSX initially said.
However, spokesperson Sheriee Bowman later said that the derailment appeared to be "weather related."
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) would work with the railroad to monitoring cleanup at the site and work to get the freight line moving again.
Norfolk Southern — and the entire rail industry — has been under intense scrutiny since one of its trains derailed and caught fire in February in Ohio near the Pennsylvania border, creating towering black smoke, forcing evacuations and raising environmental worries.
How long is the cleanup process?
Crews are currently in the clean-up process which involves heavy equipment. Officials are asking people to avoid the area during this time.
"At this time there is not a concern for any environmental release. We are working with both the railroad and the quarry below just in the chances that something could occur during the cleanup phase. But in this point in time, everything is contained that is hazardous material," Ben Russell of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said.
Norfolk Southern states the clean-up process could take up to two days.
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