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Updated CSX Statement/Outreach Center Established - 7 p.m., July 2, 2015

Maryville, Tenn., derailment
7 p.m., July 2, 2015

CSX continues to work with first responders, relief agencies including the Red Cross, and health and environmental officials in Maryville, Tenn., after a tank car derailed and caught fire. The fire has been extinguished and CSX personnel are assessing that rail car and others as part of the recovery process. Air, soil and water monitoring are continuing.

CSX’s Community Outreach Center will shift to the Heritage Middle School, 3741 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, in Maryville on Friday, July 3, and will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. At the Outreach Center, the company is working with residents to arrange lodging and address other needs. CSX personnel also are standing by to extend any assistance to those who were hospitalized, including some of the first police officers on the scene.  “We are hopeful that they are not seriously affected, and glad that they are getting expert medical care,” said Craig Camuso, CSX regional vice president-state government and community affairs. “We thank all of the first responders, agencies on site, the community, and everyone who has provided assistance.”

CSX has established a community resource hotline, and affected residents can call 1-800-331-4031. Health-related inquiries should be directed to 1-866-812-9565. Media should continue to call the company’s on-duty representative at 1-855-955-NEWS (6397).

Around midnight, a train en route from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Waycross, Ga., derailed the single tank car. The car contained approximately 24,000 gallons of acrylonitrile, a flammable liquid used in a variety of industrial processes including the manufacture of plastics. First responders ordered an evacuation of a two-mile radius, which remains in effect.

The train is made up of two locomotives and 57 cars, including 45 loaded cars and 12 empty cars. A total of 27 cars in the train are carrying hazardous materials, including propane (16 cars), and acrylonitrile (9 cars). The propane and acrylonitrile are in tank cars approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation for pressurized products. Tank cars that carry pressurized products have thicker shells. Two tank cars of asphalt, designated as hazardous materials because they are shipped at elevated temperatures to facilitate loading and unloading, are in general service tank cars. Other products on the train include gypsum wallboard, pulp board, distillers mash, corn, lumber, and scrap paper.

CSX Operations personnel, in coordination with first responders and other officials, have removed 35 of the unaffected cars from the site. A total of 21 cars remain on site pending track repairs so that they can be removed safely. The cause of the derailment is under investigation by the company and officials of the Federal Railroad Administration.