Which route did derailed train take?
Officials haven’t provided details
The cataclysmic Norfolk-railroad train derailment in East Palestine Feb. 3 could have impacted far more Ohioans.
Norfolk-southern Railway officials haven’t provided details of the train’s route.
But a federal agency investigating the disaster confirmed on Wednesday that the train, which started its journey on the Illinois/missouri state line, was piloted by a crew it picked up in Toledo.
If the train followed the most direct route on Norfolk-southern tracks toward East Palestine, it would have then passed through Cleveland, Hudson and Ravenna, as well as near Kent, before catching fire and crashing in rural Ohio.
About 4,700 people live in East Palestine. The other Ohio cities and suburbs along the train’s likely route have populations between 28,000 to 370,000.
Another less direct route could have taken the train on a more southern route from Toledo, turning south at Sandusky, then east at Bucyrus and continuing through Mansfield, Massillon and Canton.
It’s not entirely clear what impact the derailment would have had if it had happened along those more populous stretch tracks slicing through Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage or Stark counties, but many thousands of people could have been evacuated instead of the hundreds that were in rural Ohio.
Vinyl chloride and the other hazardous materials on the derailed train in Ohio
Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine said local communities were not told that 11 of the train’s 50 cars contained vinyl chloride, a highly flammable gas used to make PVC pipes, credit cards and other plastic things.
Vinyl chloride is more dangerous per part than ammonia and natural gas, according to federal regulations that dictate acceptable levels in the air. When officials decided that a controlled burn was the only way to prevent an explosion, they warned the fire would send phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air.
Phosgene is a highly toxic, colorless gas with a strong odor that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a weapon in World War I. Hydrogen chloride is a colorless to yellowish gas with a strong odor, and its primary effect on humans is skin, eye, nose and throat irritation.
Dewine called on federal lawmakers to re-examine whether state or local officials should be alerted before trains carry hazardous materials before their communities.
Where was the train that derailed in East Palestine coming from and going to?
Before it derailed, the train appeared to be on a routine run. It started in Madison, Illinois, near the Missouri border and was headed to Conway, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb that is home to one of the largest rail yards in the U.S.
The 613-mile journey between Madison, Illinois, and Conway, Pennsylvania, is nearly a straight shot by car. You’d hop on I-70 in Illinois and head east, passing through Indianapolis and Columbus before landing in Pittsburgh’s suburbs.
But the freight train route is more complicated, with possible stops to load and unload along the way. Norfolksouthern’s website shows a web of its tracks criss-crossing Ohio.
A Norfolk-southern spokesman said Wednesday that it would take time to turn over the exact path the train followed Feb. 3, pointing out that rail transportation is more complicated than airline flight paths, which keep routine schedules.
A spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is investigating the crash, confirmed Wednesday that the train traveled along Norfolk-southern’s main tracks and that the “crew operating at the time of the accident went on duty in Toledo.”
The most direct route from Toledo would put the train on tracks that run along Lake Erie to Cleveland, where it could have picked up tracks heading southeast, according to a rail map posted on Norfolk-southern’s website.
From there, the train would have passed through Macedonia, Hudson, Kent and Hartville, before taking another track in Alliance that runs to the east.
Evidence of train on fire in Salem
By the time the train entered Salem, one of its car axle’s appeared to be on fire.
Cameras at businesses along that section of rail showed the train appearing
to travel at least 20 miles with a malfunctioning axle, The Pittsburgh Postgazette reported.
At 8:12 p.m. Feb 3, a camera at Butech Bliss showed the bottom of one freight car glowing brightly as it passed by, the paper reported. A minute later and about a mile east, a camera at a meat processing plant captured an axle aflame.
The train derailed about 18 miles from Salem in East Palestine.
The NTSB has said it suspects a mechanical issue with a rail car axle ultimately caused the derailment.
Why can’t the public track hazardous materials traveling by train?
Train enthusiasts and some local leaders say the routes of trains carrying hazardous materials aren’t shared publicly to prevent terrorists or others from trying to weaponize the hazardous materials.
In Ravenna, Mayor Frank Seman said trains rumble through the area many times a day so he wasn’t surprised to find out that the train that derailed in East Palestine may have passed through his community.
“We have no idea what’s on those tracks when they go by,” he said. “They don’t go off the tracks very often, but now we’ve had two.”
In November, a train derailed off South Prospect Street in Ravenna Township along a Norfolk-southern Line. It was carrying new vehicles and rock salt.
While the wreck happened outside
the city, the tracks run close to Crystal Lake and Muzzy Lake, two bodies of water owned by the city. Rail cars were pulled off the track and were sitting on private property for weeks after the incident, and the damage still has not been completely cleaned up.
Nearby in Hudson − another city where the rail tracks pass − City Manager Tom Sheridan said Hudson City Council members on Tuesday directed him to look into adding air quality and ground water testing into the city’s emergency operations plan.
The next day, about 63 miles away in East Palestine, officials were already telling people there that city water was safe to drink. Dewine tweeted that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was “confident that the municipal water is safe to drink” in East Palestine after the latest water testing results showed “no detection of contaminants.”
Yet many in and around the Columbiana County community this week remained skeptical, frustrated and afraid.
Derailment in more populous areas possible
What would have happened if the derailment happened earlier?
“It’s a really hard question,” said Thomas Smoot, director of Summit County’s emergency management agency. “All of those areas…are different. Some have rural areas in them. Others are more populated.”
Summit County’s EMA is part of the same emergency management region – Region 5 – as East Palestine and is one of only a few in the with a Type 1 team, able to handle all hazardous materials, he said.
Smoot said at least four Summit County chiefs and assistant chiefs have been to New Palestine to help.
Smoot said EMA train with railroads and with cars like the ones involved for just such disasters. He pointed out that many manufacturers in Summit County and throughout Northeast Ohio use hazardous materials.
In 2018, an explosion at Emerald Performance Materials just south of Summit Lake in Akron prompted a half-mile evacuation in South Akron near Kenmore. In the end, no one was injured and people could return to the area after about six hours.
Smoot hoped people learn from the train derailment and listen to local incident commanders when incidents like the explosion or train derailment happen.
“They don’t want anyone to perish, to die or get further injured,” Smoot said. “They are doing their job to get you out of there.”
Beacon Journal reporter Derek Kreider and Record-courier reporter Diane Smith contributed to this report.