East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment

On February 3, 2023, at 8:55 p.m. EST (UTC−5), a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, United States. The train was carrying hazardous materials when 38 cars derailed. Several railcars burned for more than two days and emergency crews also conducted controlled burns of several railcars, which released hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air. Residents within a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) radius were evacuated. Agencies from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia assisted in the emergency response.

Following the derailment, reaction and commentary focused on industry working conditions and safety concerns, including: the lack of modern brake safety regulations, the implementation of precision scheduled railroading (PSR), reduced railway workers per train, and increased train lengths and weight. Critics said train companies had failed to invest in maintenance to prevent accidents, even though they conduct stock buybacks.

Several unions and consumer organizations expressed concern about private ownership of railways and a "profit-driven approach", which they state puts workers and communities at high risk. The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) also called for public ownership of the US railway systems.

Major US railroads promised to overhaul safety in the industry as a direct result of the East Palestine disaster. Although derailments rose at the top five freight railroads in 2023, Norfolk Southern was the only railroad among the five to report a decline in accidents in the period. A group of the railroads also promised to enroll in the Federal Railroad Administration's "close-call incident reporting system." NS was the first to join the system, with BNSF joining a few months later.

In June 2024, the National Transportation Safety Board held a meeting in East Palestine to review its findings on the incident. The board voted unanimously to accept the findings and announced it would issue a report, and Norfolk Southern announced it had endorsed the agency's recommendations.

By October 2023, Norfolk Southern removed more than 167,000 tons of contaminated soil and more than 39 million US gallons (150,000 m³) of tainted water from the derailment site.

As of February 2025, Norfolk Southern had committed more than $115 million to East Palestine, including $25 million for a regional safety training center and $25 million in planned improvements to East Palestine's park. The regional safety training center was removed from the settlement in January 2025. The company has also paid $22.21 million directly to residents.

In January 2025, East Palestine and Norfolk Southern reached a $22 million settlement. The settlement will fund village priorities related to the derailment and acknowledges the $13.5 million Norfolk Southern has already paid for water treatment upgrades and new police and fire equipment. It also reaffirms Norfolk Southern's $25 million commitment to ongoing improvements at East Palestine City Park, separate from this settlement. On February 3, 2025, a lawsuit alleged that at least seven people, including a 1-week-old infant, died as a result of the toxic chemicals leak.

Background

The train that derailed was Norfolk Southern 32N, operating from the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis yard in Madison, Illinois, to Norfolk Southern's Conway Yard in Conway, Pennsylvania, on the Fort Wayne Line. Aboard the 9,300-foot-long (1.76 mi; 2.8 km) train were an engineer, conductor, and conductor trainee. The train consisted of 3 General Electric AC44C6M locomotives (Nos. 4178 and 4224 on the head-end and No. 4412 in the middle acting as distributed power), 141 loaded cars and 9 empty cars. Other reports note one more car, for a total of 151 cars, weighing 18,000 tons. Of those cars, 20 were carrying hazardous materials, including chloroethene (vinyl chloride), butyl acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, isobutylene, combustible liquids, and benzene residue. The train departed Madison on February 1, and had suffered at least one mechanical failure before the derailment.

Derailment

Security footage from a business in Salem, Ohio (20 miles [32 km] northwest of East Palestine), and a Ring doorbell camera from New Waterford, Ohio (4 miles [6 km] northwest from East Palestine), show fire emanating from underneath a rail car as it went by on the tracks. After this, at around 8:55 pm EST on February 3, 2023, 38 cars derailed on the east side of East Palestine, near the border with Pennsylvania. Of the 38 derailed cars, 11 were tank cars that dumped 100,000 US gallons (380,000 L) of hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, benzene residue, and butyl acrylate.

About 48 hours later, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released preliminary findings indicating that the derailment was caused by a mechanical problem on one of the railcars' trucks, which may be connected to reports that an axle was observed throwing sparks about an hour before. The crew received an alarm from a wayside defect detector shortly before the derailment indicating a mechanical problem, and then an emergency brake application was initiated.

Emergency response and burn off

Nearly 70 emergency agencies from Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania mobilized in response. East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway declared a state of emergency.

Norfolk Southern personnel were first to respond on February 3. On February 4, they noticed water spillage into Sulphur Run and Leslie Run, and installed booms and underflow dams to separate the floating pollutant. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Norfolk Southern began monitoring air quality on February 3. According to the EPA, humans can smell butyl acrylate at a concentration lower than the screening level (exposure limit). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended exposure limit for butyl acrylate is a time-weighted average of 10 ppm (55 mg/m³).

On February 5, a temperature change in one of the train cars caused fears of an explosion with the potential to disperse shrapnel as the fires continued to burn. Although five cars containing vinyl chloride remained intact following the crash, the relief valve on one of the cars had malfunctioned. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine activated the Ohio National Guard to assist local authorities in what he called "a matter of life and death". Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro ordered an evacuation in areas of Beaver County which bordered the site. Officials in both states went door-to-door to evacuate residents. The fire from the accident burned until February 5. A Civil Emergency Message was issued by the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, PA at 10:10 PM for Columbiana County, Ohio.

On February 6, DeWine and Shapiro ordered the mandatory evacuation of all residents within a 1-by-2-mile (1.6 by 3.2 km) area. In an effort to prevent further explosions, Norfolk Southern emergency crews, at the direction of Unified Command under the East Palestine fire chief, conducted a controlled release and burn of the five tanks of vinyl chloride into the air. The EPA was consulted in the decision to vent and burn. Small shaped charges were used to breach the tank cars, and the vinyl chloride was allowed to flow into a trench, where it was ignited by flares. The burn caused black clouds to form above the area, and released phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air. Although officials reported that air quality readings were not showing anything concerning, residents in nearby Mahoning and Trumbull counties reported a chemical smell in their areas. Officials in the Youngstown region advised residents to stay indoors. Air monitoring conducted on February 7–8 revealed an increase in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air below the screening level and an increase in particulate matter, probably from the soot.

On February 8, state and federal EPA workers noticed oily spillage on the soil and notified Norfolk Southern, which began removing it with a vacuum truck.

On the evening of February 8, Norfolk Southern resumed traffic through the town. East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway said that he was displeased because the railroad had said that trains would not run again until all residents were able to return to their homes. On the morning of February 10, Amtrak's Capitol Limited resumed passing through East Palestine.

The evacuation was lifted on February 9 after the EPA reported that the air inside and outside the evacuation zone had returned to normal levels. Although toxicants were detected at the derailment site, they were not detected outside the area. The Ohio EPA also reported that drinking water (sourced from different waterways) was safe. In a testing report from February 8, the Ohio EPA showed WKBN-TV that vinyl chloride, benzene, some chlorinated organic compounds, and other VOCs were not detected in the water. As of January 2024, Norfolk Southern has committed $4.3 million to provide enhanced filtration to East Palestine's drinking water.