Derailment - Springfield, Ohio 3/4/2023

Norfolk Southern freight train derails in Clark County, Ohio, prompting shelter-in-place order ‘out of abundance of caution’

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/04/us/c ... index.html

By Artemis Moshtaghian and Samantha Beech, CNN
Updated 10:01 PM EST, Sat March 4, 2023

A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in the Springfield, Ohio, area Saturday afternoon, prompting a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents – just one month after the company’s toxic train wreck on the other side of the state in East Palestine.

No injuries were reported Saturday and there was no hazmat situation at the crash site in Clark County, an Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesperson told CNN. The derailment happened around 5 p.m. ET and the road was closed on State Route 41, the spokesperson added.

Twenty cars of the 212-car Norfolk Southern train derailed while headed south in the Springfield area, Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker told CNN.

“No hazardous materials are involved and there have been no reported injuries,” Spielmaker said. “Our teams are enroute to the site to begin cleanup operations.”

Dashcam video of the moment of derailment, at 1:15

https://fox8.com/news/video-shows-momen ... erailment/

It sounds to me like the trainline shoots at 0:28. First sign of 'vertical issues' is with the trailing truck of the scrap hopper just in front of the three coil cars

OK, let's see; Springfield is on both the PRR Terre Haute Div and the NYC Big Four. Might anyone know origin and destination of the train involved?

There was a report at the E. Palestine topic that the PRR line had been chopped up and was no longer a through routing. That train with 220 or some cars didn't exactly look like some way freight.

But let's hope that the auto racks seen in the video, if loaded, survived, for if damaged, that will cost Topper an "oat or two".

They still had a shelter in place but NS has said no hazmat cars on the train. So why still the shelter in place?

Grief, this incident will become a "circus" to the same extent as has E. Palestine.

There are no reports of HAZMAT; well, until "Glen" and his colleagues round up some long barred carbon tetrachloride fire extinguishers, and start spraying the derailment site with such.

"There's HAZMAT!!! Call 222-2222 NOW!!!!"

There were two tanks on that train that derailed, but from what I’ve heard they didn’t leak thankfully.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:40 am But let's hope that the auto racks seen in the video, if loaded, survived, for if damaged, that will cost Topper an "oat or two".

I may be wrong, but I believe even if no vehicles sustained any damage, they'll still be written off as a loss for being involved in a crash.

NHV 669 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:20 am

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:40 am But let's hope that the auto racks seen in the video, if loaded, survived, for if damaged, that will cost Topper an "oat or two".

I may be wrong, but I believe even if no vehicles sustained any damage, they'll still be written off as a loss for being involved in a crash.

Yes, they will be written off. The real question is why are they handling high value finished automobiles in regular freight trains. My railroad does the same thing now, automobiles built in southern plants travel in the regular freight trains, they get humped and everything.

Just more PSR cost cutting, even though I'm sure the auto manufactures are probably paying for unit train service. I know we used to run unit auto racks of only 10 or 15 racks everyday pre PSR.

I saw on Distant Signal that Auto Rack unit trains are beginning to make appearances in Florida again. It is entirely possible that the pandemic stopped the auto rack unit trains, not because of PSR, but because auto production was down, leading manufacturers to cut costs by not paying for the unit trains.

I'm also under the impression that PSR means cars are not getting humped, but are being handled in flat yards.

Ah yes, the pandemic excuse again. PSR means sweating the assets, so fewer trains crews and engines. Thats how you end up with a 200+ car trains like this NS one. Thats at least 3 trains pre PSR.

They hump auto racks coming in on multiple freight trains in Selkirk every day, and have been since before the pandemic. They just used the pandemic to scale up the cuts even more. Some of them wind up on 424 where they then sit in West Springfield for days, taking up part of that yard's capacity.

Pre PSR those racks would have run as its own train straight to the auto site in East Brookfield, even it was only 10 racks.

PSR may look good for the numbers, but one of the first things they did after Harrison in '17 was to change the metrics. It's really all just smoke and mirrors.

Auto Rack traffic details will have to wait until some contributor who is a current employee puts in an entry. My guess without seeing vehicles could be Toyotas from Georgetown KY. We see a number of auto rack trains here where the former NKP and the former LSMS/NYC/PC run parallel to each other between Cleveland and Buffalo. CSX more likey to run solid auto racks than NS.

We had a derailment on NS about twenty years ago in middle of town with auto racks; fortunately, the derailed cars stayed fairly in line and main north-south street wasn't blocked by wreckage.

As mentioned, vehicles will probably be written off by insurance claim and disposed of; it is just easier to do that rather risk later litigation which may entail 'lemon laws'.

I am a current long-time employee, basically an "old head" now. I've been trying to explain the reality of modern railroading under PSR for a while now.

Ok, I thought you, Mr. Taracer, were a current employee. I am just a very interested disconnected person who wasn't selected when interviewed with NS or BN 39 years ago.

Back to this Springfield accident, any immediate guesses to cause.

@urr304 There’s a video of the train derailing. Looked like a track defect?