WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An 80-car freight train hauling coal derailed on Friday in Washington with at least five cars falling into the Anacostia River, officials said.
No injuries were reported, but the accident involving the CSX Corp. train on the outskirts of the capital was likely to slow or halt traffic on the busy freight route that runs over the river.
“I’m counting five rail cars in the water, all of them were full of coal,” fire department spokesman Alan Etter said.
Other cars, some of them piled atop each other, dangled over the river from the low bridge.
A CSX spokesman said the train was carrying coal on tracks it owns but had no further comment.
U.S. railroad and transportation safety officials have launched investigations.
Amtrak service was not affected by the derailment.
This is the same bridge that CSX had to repair a year ago due to settling or something like that. One report says that the cars were rolling free when they derailed. It appears that the movable portion of the span is involved again.
Saying that Amtrak service won’t be affected is possibly wishful thinking–from what I gather, the only quick way around this wreck is through Union Station.
This is the same CSX line where the bridge over the Anacostia River failed in 2006. This failure caused CSX trains for the south to be partially rerouted over Norfolk Southern’s H line for several weeks. The line where the derailment occurred is normally freight only so Amtrak would be minimally affected. I am not sure how many, and for how long, CSX freight trains were rerouted through Union Station after the Anacostia River bridge failure in 2006.
How typical – the cost of CSX stock got goosed up over the summer without many compelling reasons to grab it; and I doubt most of the investors could SPOT a complicated modern (or not-so-modern) rail bridge.
They’re probably wondering “Why always us?” or similar. [C=:-)]
Re-reading the old trains issues of “The Fight for Conrail”, “Norfolk Southern after Conrail”, And “CSX searches for a magic bullet” last night, it seems obvious that CSX knows it’s been short changing maintenance expenditures for some time, and that Conrail, Norfolk Southern, The FRA, and the STB are all well aware of this. “Common knowledge” is no fluke. SO maybe it’s time to stop pretending that just because all railroads have problems from time to time, that CSX is merely running up a string of bad luck, and perhaps instead is reaping what they have sown?
I’m a retired chemist and a new railfan and only wish I could have seen this quote years ago. “Methyl ethyl awful.” LOL
However, I too am very glad that there were no harmful chemicals in these tank cars. Right now, in San Francisco, we are suffering from a large crude oil leak caused by a container ship hitting the Bay Bridge. And when one sees the environmental damage up close and personal it is very sad.
Safety in all forms of transportation needs to be a high priority.
I hope this is more than just a gratuitous swipe, but it would be really awful as well if CSX allowed its lines to deteriorate, especially those that were so painfully and expensively rehabbed in the Seventies and Eighties under Conrail. It just isn’t right. - a. s.
According to the news tonight, the biggest concern for those not connected with CSX is the amount of silt that will be stirred up (and all of the dangerous stuff that had been encapsulated in the silt) when the cars are removed from the river. That’s the reason why everything is still sitting where it ended up over 24 hours ago.
I also have to believe that there may be issues with the bridge itself, particularly in terms of whether it could support a lifting crane. If not, they will be talking about bringing something in on a barge, probably from Baltimore or Norfolk, which will take some time. Depth of the river in that area may affect that option. Plan C, I guess, would be something on the shoreline but I don’t know what kind of access there is in that area.
The bridge may be out of service a lot longer than one would normally assume. If there is something wrong structurally, all bets are off on how long.
The reports I’ve seen/heard say that it’s not that serious.
Of the two tracks on the bridge, one’s been out of service since the last time the bridge failed. The cars that derailed (and those that didn’t) rolled onto the out-of-service track. The other track was fouled but is believed to be structurally sound. The derailed cars have been cleared away from this track, and trains are expected to be going across the bridge as soon as tomorrow night.
ConRail rebuilt the Anacostia River bridges in 1978, Engineers investigating the conditions of the 2006 closure reported that ‘steel eating bacteria’ present in the waters of the Anacostia River had caused the steel pilings in the water to have a size of 25% and less of the installed dimensions, thus causing the closure and emergency rebuild (including all new pilings) of the bridge for Track #2…The track #3 bridge has been under reconstruction since December 2006 and was not slated for reopening until approximately March 2008.
Unless it’s an overheated way to say “rust,” use of the phrase “steel eating bacteria” should send that particular engineer back to high-school chem class. Iron and steel are not organic materials, thus bacteria cannot harm an iron or steel construction.
Hate to tell you this, Al, but there are some microorganisms that seem to accelerate the corrosion of ferrous metals. Much of the deterioration of the Titanic has been blamed on their presence. Whether the ones in DC are the same or a different breed, they do exist.
How they do it is ??? I was a pretty good high school chemistry student, but my knowledge of microbiology is marginal.
