(Knight Ridder circulated the following article by Dan Hinshaw on January 6.)
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. — At first blush, things are back to normal in this picturesque town, a year after a train wreck caused a deadly chlorine gas leak, killing nine while people lay sleeping in their beds.
If “normal” means catching a whiff of bleach on hot days.
Or suspecting the corrosive gas is to blame for new health problems and things that suddenly don’t work, like computers and air conditioners.
Or worrying whether Avondale Mills, the textile plant at the center of the accident, will survive.
A train carrying hazardous chemicals ran onto a side rail in front of Avondale and hit a parked train. State health officials have concluded there are no lingering dangers from air, soil or water contamination.
Still, Sharon McLaughlin, like others in her hometown, speaks of the fear and uncertainty below the surface.
McLaughlin is finally getting back into the swing of publishing a monthly newspaper. She took a seven-month hiatus this past year, in part because her computer went on the blink. She suspects it was the chlorine.
Asked about Graniteville, she said: “I don’t know that it’s ever going to be the same.”
Textiles created Graniteville, about 150 miles southwest of Charlotte. Now, people like McLaughlin are hoping the accident outside the textile mill — which happened one year ago today — won’t kill the town.
Safety changes
The trains that usually rumble along the railroad tracks through the tiny mill town will be silent today, a memorial to the derailment.After the chlorine cloud settled Jan. 6, 2005, nine people had been killed, about 250 injured and 5,400 residents evacuated in the nation’s deadliest train wreck involving hazardous material in nearly three decades.
In the days following the wreck, the Federal Railroad Administration issued additional safety measures and months later more recommendations were made — but some have worried it’s taken too long to act.
“It won’t be helpful if they don’t put it into action now,” said Rebecca Schmidt, the mother of 27-year-old engineer Chris Seeling, who was killed in the wreck. “It just takes such a long time. The railroads don’t want to spend the money on making it more safe.”
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said the crew rushing to finish its work late the night before the derailment neglected to realign a hand-operated switch, causing a Norfolk Southern train to slam into railroad cars parked on a spur.
Steve Kulm, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said the agency has been aggressively working on a regulation governing misaligned switches and issued an emergency order in October to improve manual switching procedures. The agency also has funded a test of a system that electrically monitors switch positions. He said the most recent figures show fewer overall train accidents in the past year compared with a year ago.
One sticking point has been train speeds. Safety officials who investigated the Graniteville crash recommended trains carrying poisonous gases should be required to travel slowly through populated areas.
Norfolk Southern has slowed speeds through Graniteville to 25 mph.
The railroad is also conducting tests in South Carolina using new technology. Positioning systems and onboard computers tied to the train’s braking system could help “prevent collisions and other accidents by automatically engaging a train’s brakes,” Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay said.
While that technology and other recommendations wait for implementation, those closer to the accident planned to remember the victims today during a sunrise candlelight vigil at the crash site, in the heart of the town about 60 miles southwest of Columbia.
Later today, a second memorial will be held at the nearby University of South Carolina-Aiken, where hundreds of people fled after the derailment to strip off their clothing and shower off toxins in the early morning winter chill.
Linda Smith, owner of the Blue Top Grill, a local burger joint, said some residents are still having a hard time coping.
“I’m glad they’re having a memorial for them. I think that’s wonderful,” said Smith, who has owned the restaurant since 1951. “I know they won’t ever forget about it.”
Norfolk Southern has settled about 4,500 legal claims stemming from the derailment, including several wrongful death and serious injury lawsuits, Terpay said. The company expects to spend about $39 million cleaning up the accident and paying claims.
Trying to look forward
Uncertainty has become part of everyday life in Graniteville.
But uncertainty is balanced with resiliency, said state Sen. Tommy Moore, who has represented Aiken County voters for 25 years.
“People are trying desperately to go on with their lives … and move forward, rather than dwelling on the past,” Moore said.
“I’m sure it’s going to take a lot of time, and it’ll never be forgotten. But these folks are on the rebound.”
A conversation with Clyde Widener seems to bear that out.
“I get up, go to work and come home. Nothing’s really changed for me,” said Widener, who works at Avondale.
It was a nice place to live before the accident, Widener said.
Then he re-thought his words.
“It’s still a nice place, but after you have an accident like that — I have a fear of trains now.”