CSX freight train partially derails in South Philadelphia
January 31, 2015
Authorities are probing the partial derailment of a freight train early Saturday in South Philadelphia.
The incident took place around 3 a.m. inside a CSX Corp. rail yard near 11th Street and Pattison Avenue, CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle said.
A three-locomotive, 111-car CSX freight train was traveling from Chicago to the Philadelphia area when 11 tank cars containing crude oil came off the tracks, he said. The cars remained upright.
Fire department hazmat crews responded to the scene "out of an abundance of caution" and left without taking any action, Doolittle said.
CSX crews were working Saturday to re-rail the cars "as quickly as safety allows," Doolittle said.
"Safety is CSX's highest priority, and we work hard every day to ensure the safety of our operations by investing in our infrastructure and training our personnel in safe operations," he said.
The cause of the incident remained under investigation. No other freight or rail operations in the area were affected, according to CSX.
Last January, a 101-car CSX freight train partially derailed on a bridge over the Schuylkill River in University City. Seven freight cars – six of them containing crude oil – came off the tracks, with two of them dangling over the river.
Neither leaks nor injuries were reported, but the incident prompted Philadelphia City Council to convene an investigative hearing probing the safety of CSX rail infrastructure.
CSX later issued a statement pegging faulty maintenance work along the bridge as the likely culprit.