Norfolk train goes off rails, hits buildings in Knoxville
KNOXVILLE — A Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed in the Inskip neighborhood of Knoxville about 10 p.m. Saturday, damaging two industrial buildings housing local businesses.
The derailment took place near the intersection of East Inskip Drive and Fennel Road. A total of 19 shipping containers were derailed, according to Norfolk Southern Director of Public Relations Susan Terpay.
The crash sent train cars colliding into two buildings owned by Morton Properties, which has five buildings total in the area and rents the space out to small businesses, according to Sharon Morton, who owns the company with her husband, Robert.
There are 18 businesses in the properties and Morton estimated that about five were damaged.
No one was in the buildings at the time and no injuries were reported, according to Lt. Chris Baldwin of the Knoxville Police Department.
“There is a boat repair business, heating and air, all kinds of small businesses,” Morton said. “It’s unfortunate because it’s their livelihood.”
The investigation will be handled by Norfolk Southern, Baldwin said. He did not have information on the contents of the shipping cars and said only that they did not contain hazardous material.
Nonetheless, KPD warned people to avoid the area while officers assessed the scene for “potential hazards.” They are also warning people about traffic delays in the coming days.
Cedar Lane was reopened Sunday morning, according to Terpay, but Inskip Drive “probably will be closed several days” for cleanup and repair of the tracks, Baldwin said.
Terpay said as of Sunday afternoon, all of the damaged cars and containers had been removed and crews were working to repair the tracks between East Inskip Drive and one of the collision sites at Gerdau Construction Products on Coster Road. The train consisted of three locomotives and 68 rail cars.
The derailment was blocking one highwayrail grade crossing at Inskip Road. Sections of the tracks were moved nearly 15 feet from their original location during the derailment, and double-stacked shipping containers had been severely disfigured and were leaning at perilous angles over what was left of the chainlink fence around the tracks.
One of the businesses damaged by the derailment was Fiber Tech, 230 E. Inskip Drive, which does boat repairs.
“One of the cars is sitting inside my building,” said a man who answered the phone and said he was the owner but would not give his name. “There was a motor home parked next to the building. There is a train car sitting on it. Inside the building is a train car that came through the back of the building.”
Michael Armstrong, who owns Glassworxx Car Audio next door to Fiber Tech, said he had left the area only an hour before the train derailed.
Armstrong was on the scene Saturday night with his son, Chase Pressley, and his friend Michael Robinson when he saw that his RV, which was parked on the south side of the Fiber Tech building, had been crushed. The same containers ripped open the side of Fiber Tech, creating a massive hole to the interior. Armstrong, Pressley and Robinson were made to leave the scene early Sunday morning after he discovered what he believed was gasoline leaking from his RV.
The Industrial Fumigates Co. and Kerley Heating & Air Conditioning were among the other businesses whose buildings were damaged in the derailment. Vic Kerley said he expected Kerley Heating & Air to reopen today despite damage done to the building’s roof by a fallen tree.
Now that crews have finished removing the containers and cars from the tracks, they will repair the tracks and take the derailed cars and containers from the scene, according to Terpay.