TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A switching accident involving a Norfolk-Southern train resulted in a chemical spill Friday, but no injuries were reported, according to the University of Alabama’s student newspaper, the Crimson White.
Jack Thompson, assistant chief of the Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Service, said the accident, in which one of the train’s cars buckled into an upside-down ‘V’ shape, caused sodium hydroxide to leak onto the surrounding ground.
Sodium hydroxide is a very corrosive material commonly found in drain cleaners.
The spill occurred downtown, near the intersection of the railroad tracks and 17th Street. Thompson said the remoteness of the spill meant that no residents had to be evacuated.
“We evacuated the area within 160 feet [Friday] morning, but luckily there were no residents in that area,” Thompson said.
The ground on which the sodium hydroxide was spilled was neutralized with ash and vinegar. Thompson said the presence of slag underneath the railroad tracks helped contain the spill.
“You couldn’t ask for a better area for this to happen in. It’s a good thing it wasn’t over asphalt [or the sodium hydroxide would have run off].”
Although the Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Service initially hoped most of the cleanup would be finished by sundown the first day, it continued until approximately 6 p.m. Saturday.
Although the accident caused a car to buckle, it didn’t actually result in any car derailment.