(The following article by Ronnie Glassberg was posted on the Charlotte Observer website on April 27.)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A freight train derailment early Tuesday morning in Rowan County disrupted freight and passenger rail service in North Carolina.
A Norfolk Southern train was traveling east from Asheville to Spencer when 21 of its 112 cars derailed about 12:10 a.m., said Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay. No one was injured, said Frank Thomason, emergency services director for Rowan County.
The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating, said spokesman Warren Flatau.
All of the 21 derailed cars were empty except one, which was carrying scrap metal, Terpay said. Most of the cars remained upright but had slipped off the track, she added.
By 10:30 a.m., Norfolk Southern crews had cleared one of the two parallel sets of tracks, Terpay said. They were expected to clear the other by Tuesday evening, she said.
The derailment forced cancellations and changes to Amtrak passenger service Tuesday.
The Piedmont, which runs from Raleigh to Charlotte, was canceled Tuesday, and no alternative transportation was available.
Passengers traveling on the northbound Carolinian were being bused to Richmond before resuming train service, according to a news release from the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Rail Division. Those on the southbound Carolinian were to be bused from Richmond to their ticketed destinations in Virginia or North Carolina, the release said.
All trains are expected to resume regular schedules today.
From 2001 to 2004, Norfolk Southern had 32 derailments in North Carolina, including six last year, according to Federal Railroad Administration data. Nationally, Norfolk Southern had 222 derailments last year, 9.8 percent of the total.
“We try to not ever have them,” Terpay said. “Unfortunately, they do occur, and they are a part of our operations.”