Southampton CSX Freight Train Derailment Illustrates Unacceptable Dangers on the Railroads

Further details have emerged of a CSX train derailment on Thursday morning in Southampton County that left two railroad workers injured.

The accident involved two locomotives, trains 17,000 carrying gallons of fuel and a fire. It could have been so much worse.

That’s not to negate the injuries suffered by two engineers after a CSX locomotive derailed and ended up on its side.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Major Gene Drewery of the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office said one of the injured workers had lost consciousness and suffered back pain. He was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. The other was taken to Southampton Memorial Hospital. I was relieved to read their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The accident involved two trains. Each of them held 8,500 gallons of fuel, but only one tank ruptured, according to investigators. The derailment sparked a fire in a wooded area of Southampton County close to the Ashland Chemical Plant.

No chemical spill was involved in the accident. “We were lucky,” Drewery said.

The derailment occurred at about 2:30 a.m., according to CSX spokeswoman Carla Groleau. The locomotives were hauling 35 cars when both locomotives and 10 cars went off the tracks. The train had left Portsmouth, VA and was en route to Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

The Federal Railroad Administration is to investigate the cause of this accident.

Those like myself who are familiar with the workings of the railroad injury will know how this accident could have been much more serious if more tanks ruptured.

Earlier this year the explosion of a runaway train in Quebec, Canada devastated a small town and killed almost 50 people.

I have previously written about serious defects in DOT-111, a soda-can shape tanker. The tanker is the workhorse of the American railroad industry which means thousands of them are out there. Unfortunately this defect causes this tanker to rupture easily in a derailment.

Until the railroad industry cleans up its act, workers will continue to be unnecessarily injured and those living near railroads will face unacceptable risks.

The Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Newport News and Hampton railroad injury/FELA law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles railroad worker’s injuries and injuries on rail crossings in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia, as well as automobile, truck, and motorcycle injuries and slip and fall cases, wrongful death and medical malpractice. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in railroad worker related injuries.

Cooper Hurley represents families who have lost a loved one through another party’s fault in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and north eastern North Carolina. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us at (757) 455 -0077 or contact is through CooperHurley.com.