WASHINGTON — A Norfolk Southern report filed with the Federal Railroad Administration lists a broken rail as the cause of a Jan. 6 derailment near Bartow, Ga., that led to the evacuation of hundreds of area residents.
The Augusta Chronicle quotes FRA spokesman Warren Flatau as saying the report is under review and the incident remains under investigation.
Thirty-seven cars derailed in the incident, which initially led to the evacuation of all residents in a 7-mile radius because of the presence of 13 carloads of chlorine. None of those cars were breeched, although one car of hydrogen peroxide and one of hydrochloric acid did leak. [See “Georgia town’s residents return home after chlorine cars’ derailment prompts evacuation,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 7, 2019.]
