FELA Lawyer News Blog

SMITHSBURG, MD — A CSX train that was travelling from Hanover to Hagerstown, Maryland derailed in Smithsburg around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. The derailment occurred just past the rail crossing at Maple Ave. where the train hit a track switch causing the end cars to become unbalanced and derail.

Smithsburg is located in Washington County, Maryland. It is in the northern part of the state about 72 miles northwest of Baltimore, about 66 miles northwest of Columbia, about 65 miles northwest of Silver Spring, about 82 miles northwest of Dundalk, about 59 miles northwest of Wheaton-Glenmont and about 86 miles northwest of Bowie.

Officials say that the derailment was reported around 2:30 p.m. in the area of Maple Grove Court in downtown Smithsburg. Although the initial report was that two to four boxcars and an empty tanker car were involved, it was later determined that there were five rail cars involved in the derailment. The derailed rail cars that were involved were three boxcars, a tanker and a hopper. A hopper is a kind of train car for holding grain. These were the last five cars in the train.

CSX investigators arrived at the scene of the derailment. It looks like the derailment began in the Cascade area when a wheel left the track. There is an EMS (Emergency Medical Services) station near the derailment site. The track switch is located behind the EMS station and is for a dead-end section of track. You can see the details in the satellite view below:

According to an article in The Herald-Mail website (www.herald-mail.com), no one was hurt and no hazardous materials were spilled in the mishap. The cargo train did not have any passenger cars and no fire or smoke were reported either.

According to Smithsburg Emergency Medical Services (EMS) deputy chief, the crossing at Maryland Route 66 at the southwest end of town was blocked temporarily after the derailment.

The EMS Deputy Chief James Ulrich was at the station working in the ambulance bay when he heard a lot of loud noises and banging. He looked out an open door and saw the train derail.

He could see that the wheels on one of the cars appeared to be dragging and then, “they just started tumbling like dominoes.” Ulrich said, “The one car went and then the other two followed.” Al told, three cars fell on their side and two more were tipping off the track.

A CSX crew was expected to arrive around 9 p.m. on Tuesday to upright the derailed cars.

CSX officials first needed to determine if the derailment was caused by personnel or machinery, after which they would release the unaffected train cars so that they could continue toward their destination at Hagerstown.

Soon after that, work would begin to get the five derailed cars upright. CSX officials said that they hoped to be back in business shortly after that. The time it would take to make the repairs would depend upon the number of ties that needed to be replaced.

There was a lot of damage to the tracks. They would definitely have to tear up a lot of rail and everything and redo the track because it was pulled up and missing in places.

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Published by fela lawyer Gordon &amp Elias, LLP

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