While the only two crew members aboard the Norfolk Southern
train that derailed June 30 in Gardeau have been cited for improper
actions, a railroad spokesman said Wednesday there has been no
conclusion reached as to what caused the accident.
Rudy Husband, railroad spokesman, called The Era Wednesday to
clear up a factual error made by The Associated Press, which had
erroneously referred to the train as being a Canadian National
train.
“It was a Norfolk Southern train driven by a Norfolk Southern
crew on Norfolk Southern property,” Husband said. “If it wasn’t, it
would make my job a lot easier.”
On June 30, 28 cars on the train derailed and three split open,
spilling about 44,000 gallons of highly concentrated, liquid sodium
hydroxide into the ground and into Sinnemahoning-Portage Creek.
Devastation to fish and aquatic life were tracked up to 35 miles
downstream immediately after the accident.
On Monday, Husband had released a statement that the engineer
and conductor aboard the train had been charged with “improper
train handling” and “excessive speeding.” He said Wednesday the
company does not intend to release the names of the individuals
involved.
“Our investigation is open still. In accordance with the labor
contracts in place, we’ve charged them with certain offenses. They
are entitled to due process, which we are going through right now,”
he said. “The disciplinary process is under way.”
The internal charges against the employees were filed for
actions “causing derailment and extensive damage to track structure
and equipment and endangering the safety and welfare of public and
other employees,” Husband told The AP.
However, he would not say that speeding was a cause of or even a
contributing factor to the derailment.
“Until we’ve come to a conclusion, everything is being looked
at,” he said. “I’m not going to start getting into certain elements
of our investigation.”
Meanwhile, cleanup at the accident site continues.
“We’re working to have the damaged equipment and debris out of
there by end of next week,” Husband said. Crews are currently
cutting up and removing damaged rail cars.
“It’s a fairly aggressive schedule,” he said, adding staying on
schedule will be weather-dependant. “We’ll certainly have it out of
there by the middle of August.
“We haven’t had any problems yet, but if the weather becomes a
problem depending on the standpoint of being able to do the work,
that will effect our schedule,” Husband said.
Norfolk Southern has submitted a site assessment plan to the
state Department of Environmental Protection, detailing what steps
the company plans to take to precisely identify the areas of
contamination.
The railroad intends to use borings and probes to gather
information about the soil below the surface and install numerous
monitoring wells to collect information about groundwater to
determine the depth and breadth of contamination.
The DEP’s public files relating to the train derailment will be
available for review beginning next week at the Cameron County
Courthouse. The Cameron County Conservation District is housing a
document repository at its office in Room 105 of the
courthouse.
Residents should contact Conservation District Manager Jan
Hampton to arrange an appointment to review the files.
“We want to help residents stay informed about the activities
taking place in their community,” said Kelly Burch, DEP Northwest
Regional Director. “Having documents available to residents in a
location that is convenient to them is an important aspect of
keeping individuals up to date with an issue that will be ongoing
for an extended period of time.”
