COLUMBIA, S.C. — Norfolk Southern railway said in an email train traffic has resumed a day after a freight train derailed in south Columbia early Monday morning.
The train carrying freight containers went off the rails around 8:20 a.m. Monday in a wooded area near Longwood Drive off Shop Road.
Emergency personnel attended to two railway employees who were transported to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. The Norfolk Southern crew were leased from the hospital later that day, according to the company.
Crews with Columbia-Richland Fire Department were working with South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and private contractors to clear the railway and return it to operational status.
Columbia Fire spokesman Mike DeSumma said the derailment caused a gasoline fuel spill but the spill has been contained.
Spokesperson for DHEC Ron Aiken said in an email, " This is a diesel fuel spill. We are not aware of a threat to public health. In these types of incidents, DHEC's role is to, upon request, provide support to the local responders/incident command. We responded to the scene to provide support to local incident command and to ensure any discharge to the environment is properly remediated. We don't conduct the actual cleanup activities; however, clean-up is ongoing. "
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is aware of the derailment, and in an email they said that they were monitoring it. But added " We are not investigating at this time".
DHEC reports that the derailment involved a freight train and an engine used to move rail cars.
Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker said in an email to News19, "It was one Norfolk Southern train that struck a non-Norfolk Southern locomotive that had derailed (separately) on a local track (not NS track) and was fouling (encroaching) our mainline."
Norffolk Southern is investigating the incident, but the spokesperson said their train did not hit another Norfolk Southern train.