derailment

The freight railcar that federal investigators say likely caused last month’s derailment in Ohio was handed off among four railroads before its fateful trip and was owned by a fifth company, according to documents and people familiar with the railcar’s history and journey.The story of the railcar, which was destroyed in a fiery wreck on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, a small town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, illustrates the challenges that federal investigators have in understanding the cause of and factors that…

A truck turns down an alleyway on N. Market Street as dusk settles in on February 25, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.Photo: Michael Swensen (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.Chris Laderer was 34 days into his tenure as chief of the volunteer fire department in Darlington, Pennsylvania, when the station received a call that a train had caught fire in the neighboring town of East Palestine, just over the state border in Ohio. Laderer assumed that an…

People in East Palestine, Ohio are still struggling with uncertainty and fear for their health and community in the aftermath of the disastrous derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals on February 6. This week, the extreme impacts of that spill on local wildlife became clearer.An estimated 43,785 aquatic animals died as a result of the train derailment, Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources said in a Thursday statement and recorded press conference.The agency came to that number through sampling and surveying…

An overheated bearing on a railcar carrying polypropylene was the likely cause of a Norfolk Southern Corp. train derailment earlier this month, federal transportation officials said Thursday, an incident that subsequently created an environmental mess in a small Ohio town that the railroad as well as state and federal officials are still trying to clean up. Monitoring equipment along the tracks alerted the train crew to the overheated bearing, which was 253 degrees Fahrenheit above ambient…

Workers continue to clean up remaining tank cars, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio, following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern freight train derailment.Matt Freed | APFederal authorities on Thursday pointed to an overheated wheel bearing on a Norfolk Southern train that derailed and released toxic chemicals earlier this month in Ohio.The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board did not offer an exact cause of the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment but outlined several operational…

In late January, Alan Shaw, the chief executive of Norfolk Southern Corp. , touted the railroad’s financial performance and rising cargo volumes. “Service is at the best it’s been in more than two years, and customers are noticing,” he told investors. The following week, Mr. Shaw was getting alerts that a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous chemicals had derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, setting off a crisis that has put intense scrutiny on the railroad’s operations and its…

WASHINGTON —  Last week, while scrolling aimlessly through TikTok, I saw a troubling video. As a woman poured creamer into her coffee, the liquid sizzled. “I don’t think this is normal,” the video’s caption read. The woman indicated that she made the coffee with tap water from an area near East Palestine, the site of the Feb. 3 train derailment that resulted in the release of toxic chemicals. The video, which has garnered more than 20 million views, is one of many circulating the internet showing the real-life…

Chemicals float on the top of the water in Leslie Run creek after being agitated from the sediment on the bottom of the creek on February 20, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.Photo: Michael Swensen (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.When a freight train filled with volatile chemicals derailed in rural Ohio earlier this month, it set off a chain of reactions: the evacuation of a town of nearly 5,000 people; a massive black plume of smoke from a controlled…

That's what makes the disaster in Ohio so alarming. Five rail cars of vinyl chloride burned—some of it done intentionally to reduce building pressure—likely producing toxic compounds called dioxins. Because hot air from a fire rises, the flames from the train sent a black plume high into the air, potentially spreading toxicants far beyond the site of the derailment. “The thing about dioxins is they're potent at really low levels, and are persistent and bioaccumulative,” says Schettler. This means they persist in the body…

A worker at the derailment cleanup site in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 5, 2023.Photo: Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (AP)In the two weeks since a 150-car train carrying toxic materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, officials are still working to determine the risk to nearby residents and the local environment. With a lack of fast and reliable facts, misinformation and conspiracies have spread through social media and even mainstream news.This morning, I spoke with Keeve Nachman, an associate professor of…