Train derailment could cost CSX $10M

Train derailment could cost CSX $10M

	Published : Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:10 By : Agencies Print this Story

BROOKS, Ky. (AFX) - A CSX train that derailed south of Louisville two weeks ago igniting chemical fires and forcing residents from their homes could cost the company more than $10 million, a spokesman said Wednesday.

That amount includes damage to the railroad, the environmental price tag and personal claims from residents, CSX spokesman Gary Sease said.

Although no one was seriously injured in the Jan. 16 derailment, about 15 families were still shut out of their homes. The derailment caused fires on several cars and sent a trail of thick black smoke into the sky over homes and businesses in northern Bullitt County.

Some utilities have not been restored to the homes and congestion from heavy equipment at the scene of the crash continues to keep residents out, said Sherryl Carbonaro, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency.

'There's so much equipment down there it's not really that safe,' Carbonaro said. 'Also there's no water to some of the homes, and there's no gas to some of the homes.'

CSX planned to close a community outreach center on Wednesday where residents were offered $100 checks if they could demonstrate they were inconvenienced by the derailment, Sease said.

Sease said the center was seeing up to 1,500 people a day at the height of the payments. He said the company will still be in contact with residents who have major claims against CSX.

'We are going to shift the bulk of our resources and attention to those outstanding claims and the care and support of those displaced families,' Sease said.

The train was carrying a number of hazardous chemicals, much of which firefighters allowed to burn so that rail cars could be moved off the site. CSX crews also excavated 4,500 tons of contaminated earth from around the site.

Sease said workers have removed about 200,000 gallons of waste waster that contained chemicals spilled in the derailment. The chemicals onboard the train when it derailed were cyclohexane, methyl ethyl ketone, butadiene and alcohol, according to CSX. About 1,000 soil and water samples have been taken in the area, he said.

'There will be sampling and monitoring of this area for quite some time,' Sease said.