WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five cars, including two carrying propane, derailed yesterday on a freight train headed from Gainesville to Manassas, leading authorities to close more than four miles of Route 29, the Washington Post reported.
The cars were part of a 15-car train operated by Norfolk Southern Railway, and they derailed as the train pulled out of a sidetrack about 5 p.m., said Susan Bland, a railway spokeswoman. No one was injured, she said. The cause of the derailment was unknown last night and it is expected to take until late this morning to upright all the trains.
One car that derailed was an empty flat car, two were empty propane cars and two were carrying 30,000 gallons of propane each, officials said. All five ended up on their sides near the tracks, Bland said, but neither of the cars carrying propane was believed to have leaked.
Authorities created a 3,000-foot “isolation zone” around the derailment site, but no houses had to be evacuated, said Hadden Culp, a spokesman for Prince William County’s fire department. Route 29 was closed between Route 15 and Interstate 66, Culp said.
Late last night, officials said that cleaning up the wreck might take until 6 a.m. today or beyond. In that case, Culp said, Lee Highway would remain closed into the morning rush hour.
In 1997, another Norfolk Southern train derailed about one-quarter mile from the site of last night’s wreck and crushed a small building belonging to a RaceTrac gas station. One man was severely injured in that wreck, which was caused by a switch locked in the wrong position. Later that year in the same area, another train hit a car parked close to the tracks.