OFF THE RAILS

Norfolk Southern Train Derails Near East Palestine—Again

The train wasn’t carrying any hazardous materials—just soy beans and paraffin wax.

A Norfolk Southern train has derailed—again—near East Palestine, Ohio, just months after a previous derailment sent hazardous chemicals spewing out into the small town. The nine cars that derailed Wednesday night, near the town of New Castle just across the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, didn’t contain any hazardous chemicals, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Among the contents were soy beans and paraffin wax. “At this time there is no threat to the public, no issues with drinking water and no need for evacuations,” the Lawrence County Department of Public Safety said in a statement. This latest accident comes three months after another Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed near East Palestine, creating a sky-high inferno and forcing a town-wide evacuation as first responders burned off dangerous materials. Fears about contamination of the town’s air, water and soil linger, causing the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern in March.