3 Injured as Train Derails in Virginia National Park

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(TNS) – Three people were injured and diesel fuel spilled into a river when an empty coal train derailed early Wednesday morning in a West Virginia national park and nature preserve.

The CSX train was traveling through New River Gorge National Park and Preserve south of Sanderson just before 5 a.m. when it struck a rockslide, caught fire and fell off the tracks, according to CSX.

Three crew members — a conductor, an engineer and an engineer trainee — were on board, the company said. All three were transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

All four locomotives and 22 empty cars derailed, CSX said. An “unknown quantity” of diesel fuel and oil spilled into the New River.

West Virginia officials were monitoring the local water supply, but no public systems were immediately shut down.

The train was carrying 109 total cars, all of which were empty, according to West Virginia’s emergency management department. No one was ordered to evacuate their home, as the derailment occurred in a rural area about 50 miles southeast of Charleston.

The location was so remote that first responders traveled to and from the scene in CSX rail trucks, the West Virginia Emergency Management Division said.

“I’d like to commend the response agencies and CSX for their quick and efficient response,” said Summers County Emergency Manager Steve Lipscomb. “All the agencies worked as a team to provide prompt medical aid and transportation to the injured.”

The state said CSX would have to pay for cleanup of the site, something the rail company did not mention in its own statement.

The near-disaster occurred just over a month after a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed about 200 miles north in East Palestine, Ohio.

Since then, two more Norfolk Southern trains have crashed in the state. A second train, which wasn’t carrying hazardous materials, derailed on the western side of the state on March 4. A third train struck a truck at a railroad crossing, killing the conductor.

In response to the various incidents, the federal government launched a comprehensive investigation into Norfolk Southern.