More than 20 cars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed April 26 in North Carolina, snarling rail traffic and delaying Amtrak trains. In all, 21 of the train’s 112 cars derailed. The train was traveling from Asheville, N.C., en route to Linwood, N.C., when it derailed about 40 miles north of Charlotte, N.C. No one was injured in the derailment.
A dozen cars derailed April 22 in a CSX rail yard in Waycross, Ga., a Jackson, Fla., television station reported. The 12 cars, which were carrying primarily logs, and two engines derailed in the east end of Rice Yard, WJXT reported. About 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked during the derailment, the television station reported.
Homes were evacuated April 14 when a Union Pacific freight train derailed near Solon Springs, Wis. A Union Pacific train hauling mixed goods, including grain and lumber, derailed around 3:20 p.m. The homes were evacuated because of fears that a tank car might explode, authorities said. A fire caused by the derailment was extinguished quickly, The Associated Press reported. The tracks are owned by Canadian National Railway. No one was injured in the derailment.
No one was killed April 3 when an Amtrak train derailed in the Columbia River Gorge near Home Valley, Wash., KATU reported. Train No. 27 derailed around 9:30 a.m., the television station reported. At least 10 people were injured when four of the train’s cars left the tracks. Investigators were probing the condition of the tracks, which were owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe. According to published reports, BNSF received warnings about the conditions of the tracks.
