Oil train cars derail in Philadelphia

A freight train carrying crude oil partially derailed in Philadelphia over the weekend. No injuries or spills were reported. It was the second oil train derailment the city has seen in the span of a year.

As StateImpact Pennsylvania has previously reported, North Dakota’s Bakken Shale oil has helped breathe new life into Philadelphia’s refineries, but the city has also become one of the nation’s most heavily traveled regions for rail oil shipments.

A string of recent accidents across the country has prompted calls for safety upgrades.

The accident happened at about 3 a.m. Saturday at a CSX Corp. rail yard near 11^th Street and Pattison Avenue, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A three-locomotive, 111-car CSX freight train was traveling from Chicago to the Philadelphia area when 11 tank cars containing crude oil came off the tracks, he said. The cars remained upright.

Fire department hazmat crews responded to the scene “out of an abundance of caution” and left without taking any action, [CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle] said.

No chemical leaks were detected, and no injuries reported, according to both CSX and the Philadelphia Fire Department.

CSX crews were working Saturday to re-rail the cars “as quickly as safety allows,” Doolittle said.

“Safety is CSX’s highest priority, and we work hard every day to ensure the safety of our operations by investing in our infrastructure and training our personnel in safe operations,” he said.

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