Norfolk Southern train derails in Alabama hours before CEO testifies in Senate

A Norfolk Southern train derailed Thursday in northeastern Alabama, hours before the railroad’s chief executive told Congress he was “deeply sorry” for a derailment last month that spilled toxic chemicals in Ohio.

The latest derailment occurred about 6:45 a.m. roughly 80 miles northeast of Birmingham in the White Plains area of Calhoun County, local emergency officials said. About 37 rail cars derailed.

“Fortunately, there was no hazardous material with this,” Myles Chamblee, Calhoun County’s director of emergency management, said at a news conference.

He said local responders were working with Norfolk Southern on cleanup efforts, adding that there were no injuries and no roads were blocked.

The derailment is the latest in a series of incidents involving Norfolk Southern, the nation’s fourth-largest railroad, and comes as federal investigators are probing the company’s safety culture. It happened hours before company CEO Alan Shaw testified before a Senate committee in a hearing that highlighted the carrier’s history of opposing federal safety regulations amid criticism from lawmakers that the railroad cut jobs related to maintenance and inspections.

The hearing sought to answer questions about the response and aftermath of a Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. A 149-car train carrying vinyl chloride went off the rails, prompting evacuations and a public health scare.

“I want to begin today by expressing how deeply sorry I am for the impact this derailment has had on the residents of East Palestine and the surrounding communities,” Shaw said in his opening remarks. “I am determined to make this right. Norfolk Southern will clean the site safely, thoroughly and with urgency. You have my personal commitment.”

[Federal investigators open wide-ranging probe of Norfolk Southern rail accidents]

As the hearing got underway, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) noted news reports of the Alabama derailment.

“I certainly hope that all of your team and anybody in the vicinity is safe and well,” Whitehouse told Shaw. “You may need to look into that.”

On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it was opening a “special investigation” into Norfolk Southern’s safety culture. The board said Thursday that it is also investigating the latest derailment near Piedmont, Ala. Crews continued to clear the tracks during the afternoon.

Norfolk Southern spokesman Connor Spielmaker said the train, which was headed west from Atlanta, was carrying mixed freight. Two rail cars were residue hazardous material cars, meaning they were empty but had carried hazardous materials in the past. Those cars did not breach, he said.

“There’s no hazard material leak. There’s no risk at all to the public,” said Spielmaker, who tried to reassure local residents the company is looking at all recent incidents “and figuring out how we can become an even safer railroad.”

Norfolk Southern on Monday vowed new safety measures, including a revamp of its network of hot-bearing detectors. The company said it would install 200 more hotbox detectors along its rail lines to fill gaps in a network of safety devices designed to catch overheating wheel bearings before they cause a derailment. The NTSB has cited an overheated bearing in the East Palestine derailment.

At the hearing, witnesses said failures by the railroad left emergency responders “scrambling” as they grappled with the possibility of an explosion in East Palestine. Meanwhile, lawmakers grilled Shaw and Environmental Protection Agency officials on the response.

The East Palestine derailment led officials to declare a shelter-in-place order before evacuating half of the town’s residents. Then, a “drastic” temperature change in one of the tank cars on Feb. 5 led authorities to conduct a “controlled release” of vinyl chloride, which unleashed a plume of toxic fumes.

As Thursday’s hearing wrapped up, Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, noted that “fortunately” the Alabama train that derailed had no hazardous materials and caused no injuries.

“That’s a good-news, bad-news story,” Carper said. Still, the incidents since the East Palestine derailment - including a March 4 derailment in Springfield, Ohio, and a collision with a dump truck that killed a railroad conductor in Cleveland - were “more than disconcerting,” he said.

“It’s a trend that is troubling to me,” he told Shaw. “My guess is, it’s troubling to you as well. So I hope that we’ll get the kind of serious attention that it needs.”