A CSX freight train derailed in northeast Washington, D.C., early Sunday, spilling hazardous chemicals along a busy rail corridor. The wreck stranded some residents away from their homes, forced the closure of a District of Columbia subway station station and snarled traffic as emergency personnel sought to contain the leaks and clear the wreckage.
Officials said 14 rail cars of the 175-car train left the tracks. A rail engineer and a conductor had been aboard the train but were accounted for, authorities said. No evacuations were ordered, and no one was injured.
The cause of the wreck is under investigation, and the Federal Railroad Administration was at the scene Sunday.
Red Line service was suspended between Metro’s NoMa-Gallaudet and Brookland stations, and the Rhode Island Avenue station was closed. At least six blocks of Rhode Island Avenue NE were closed for much of the day.
The derailment occurred about 6:40 a.m. as the train was passing through Washington from Cumberland, Maryland, en route to Hamlet, North Carolina, CSX said. The crash site was near Ninth Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE. CSX said 94 cars were carrying mixed freight and 81 were empty.
The derailment, about 70 cars into the train, spilled half the liquid contents of a 15,500-gallon tanker containing sodium hydroxide, D.C. Fire and EMS Deputy Chief John Donnelly said. The liquid spilled onto the tracks and seeped into the ground below it.
Officials said there were no air- or water-quality issues at the scene.
CSX spokeswoman Melanie Cost said the company did not have a timeline on the cleanup or restoration of the tracks.
“First, let me apologize to the community for the inconvenience and the alarm that the derailment caused this morning,” she said. “Every decision that we’re making is focused on the safety of the responders and the community.”
CSX described sodium hydroxide as a chemical “used to produce various household products, including paper, soap and detergents.” It is a chemical component similar to bleach or Drano, officials said. Two other rail cars were leaking chemicals that officials described as less hazardous.
