(The Associated Press circulated the following article on August 8. Cole Davis is the BLET’s General Chairman for the Norfolk Southern Northern Lines.)
NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk Southern train carrying sodium hydroxide was traveling more than four times the speed limit down a steep hill when it derailed and spilled the caustic chemical into a trout stream in central Pennsylvania, an official with a union representing the train engineer said Friday.
The train belonging to the Norfolk-based railroad was moving at about 73 mph when it derailed June 30, said Cole Davis, general chairman of the Norfolk Southern Northern Lines and Wheeling-Lake Erie general committee, which is a part of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
Norfolk Southern last week cited the engineer and conductor for “improper train handling” and “excessive speeding.” The speed limit at the point of the derailment was 15 mph.
The Federal Railroad Administration, which is investigating the derailment, has said the train was traveling in excess of the speed limit but has not released a final report. That may take months, agency spokesman Steven Kulm said Friday.
Railroad spokesman Rudy Husband declined to comment on the company’s investigation.
Environmental officials have said aquatic life in the creek was devastated as far as 7 1/2 miles downstream from the derailment. No one was injured.