Norfolk Southern: Train derailment scene cleared, new track expected to be completed
WATE 6 On Your Side staff Published: October 21, 2017, 10:49 pm Updated: October 22, 2017, 6:18 pm
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – After a train derailed in North Knoxville over the weekend, crews are laying down a new railroad track.
A Norfolk Southern train derailed near Inskip Drive on Saturday night around 10 p.m., spilling shipping containers and damaging buildings.
The train was not carrying hazardous materials and no one was injured.
Norfolk Southern Director of Public Relations Susan Terpay says a total of 19 cars left the track. Eighteen of those cars were carrying shipping containers. The 19th car carried automobiles. The train was made up of three locomotives and 68 rail cars.
Some rail cars struck nearby buildings, at least two of which were damaged. Gerdau Construction Products, a steel manufacturer, was struck by the derailed cars and appears to have sustained significant damage.
Knoxville police say there were many rail cars hanging precariously off the track.
Norfolk Southern along with Knoxville police and fire crews monitored the derailment and checked for any potential hazards overnight. No evacuations were needed.
Knoxville police say any unauthorized people who get on the tracks will be taken to jail.
Nearby residents recall hearing a loud screeching sound before the derailment happened.
Inskip Drive will be closed to all traffic between Coster Road and Fennel Road.
Inskip Drive could be closed for up to a week. Drivers should seek alternate routes through the area and expect heavy delays.
Police say Norfolk Southern will head up the investigation into why the train derailed. Stay with WATE 6 On Your Side for continuing coverage of the derailment.
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UPDATE: Norfolk Southern has completed removing the rail cars and containers from the tracks, and has finished laying the new track, according to spokeswoman Susan Terpay. Rail service is expected to resume early Monday with trains operating at reduced speeds, she said.
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A Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed in the Inskip neighborhood of Knoxville about 10 p.m. Saturday, damaging two industrial buildings housing local businesses.
The derailment took place near the intersection of East Inskip Drive and Fennel Road. A total of 19 shipping containers were derailed, according to Norfolk Southern Director of Public Relations Susan Terpay.
The crash sent train cars colliding into two buildings owned by Morton Properties, which has five buildings total in the area and rents the space out to small businesses, according to Sharon Morton, who owns the company with her husband, Robert.
A total of 18 businesses are housed in the properties and Morton estimated that about five were damaged, including a boat repair business.
No one was in the buildings at the time and no injuries were reported, according to Lt. Chris Baldwin of the Knoxville Police Department.
"There is a boat repair business, heating and air, all kinds of small businesses," Morton said. "It's unfortunate because it's their livelihood."
Several cars derailed from a train in North Knoxville, according to police.
No details on the cause of the crash were available Saturday night. The investigation will be handled by Norfolk Southern, Baldwin said. He did not have information on the contents of the shipping cars and only said that they did not contain hazardous material.
Nonetheless, KPD warned people to avoid the area while officers assessed the scene for "potential hazards." They are also warning people about traffic delays in the coming days.
Cedar Lane was reopened Sunday morning but Inskip Drive "probably will be closed several days" for cleanup and repair of the tracks, Baldwin said.
KUB workers arrive at the scene of a 50-car train derailment in North Knoxville, Tennessee on Sunday, October 22, 2017; Knoxville, TN; Mandatory Credit: Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK (Photo: Calvin Mattheis, Knoxville News Sentinel-USA TODAY NETWORK)
Terpay said Sunday that crews from Norfolk Southern worked through the night.
As of Sunday afternoon, all of the damaged cars and containers had been removed, and crews were working to repair the tracks between East Inskip Drive and one of the collision sites at Gerdau Construction Products on Coster Road. The train consisted of three locomotives and 68 rail cars.
The derailment was blocking one highway-rail grade crossing at Inskip Road. Sections of the tracks were moved nearly 15 feet from their original location during the derailment, and double-stacked shipping containers had been severely disfigured and were leaning at perilous angles over what was left of the chain-link fence around the tracks.
Damaged shipping containers and debris from the train derailment at the intersection of East Inskip Drive and Fennel Road. (Photo: SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
One of the businesses damaged by the derailment was Fiber Tech, 230 E. Inskip Drive, which does boat repairs.
“One of the cars is sitting inside my building,” said a man answering the phone there who said he was the owner of the business but would not give further identification. “There was a motor home parked next to the building. There is a train car sitting on it. Inside the building is a train car that came through the back of the building.”
He said the business was closed and no one was there at the time of the derailment. In the dark, he said, it was hard to tell the extent of the damage.
Michael Robinson, of Knoxville, discovers that his camper trailer was crushed by a train car at the scene of a 50-car train derailment in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday, October 22, 2017. (Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP) (Photo: Calvin Mattheis, Associate Press)
Michael Armstrong, who owns Glassworxx Car Audio next door to Fiber Tech, said that he had left the area only an hour before the train derailed. Armstrong said he had just stepped out of the shower when he got a text saying that a train had gone off the tracks and hit a building.
Armstrong was on the scene Saturday night with his son, Chase Pressley, and his friend Michael Robinson when he saw that his RV, which was parked on the south side of the Fiber Tech building, had been crushed by the rogue containers.
The same containers ripped open the side of Fiber Tech, creating a massive hole to the interior. Armstrong, Pressley and Robinson were made to leave the scene early Sunday morning after he discovered what he believed was gasoline leaking from his RV.
Logs spill out of a shipping container carried by a train that derailed at the intersection of East Inskip Drive and Fennel Road. (Photo: SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
The Industrial Fumigates Co. and Kerley Heating & Air Conditioning were among the other businesses whose buildings were damaged in the derailment. Vic Kerley said he expected Kerley Heating & Air to reopen Monday despite damage done to the building's roof by a fallen tree.
Now that crews have finished removing the containers and cars from the tracks, they will repair the tracks and take the derailed cars and containers from the scene, according to Terpay. East Inskip Drive is expected to remain closed into Monday.