Mayor Bowser said there are no air quality issues and that no water issues have been determined. MARC said trains likely won’t operate past Silver Spring and urged residents to find an alternative way to get to work. The calcium chloride leak was sealed. That leak has also been plugged, the company said.
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MARC officials said commuters should expect major services disruptions on the Brunswick Line Monday.
“What we want to do is to make sure that nothing with any kind of hazardous overtones goes through the CSX tunnel when it’s done”, said Norton.
Crews were preparing to excavate soil where one of the tank cars leaked about 750 gallons of sodium hydroxide, which is used to produce household products including soap and detergent, according to a CSX spokeswoman.
At least three cars are leaking a hazardous substance, according to Doug Buchanan, a spokesman for the District of Columbia fire department.
CSX says ethanol from one derailed auto and sodium hydroxide from another derailed vehicle are being offloaded so that the cars can be removed from the site.
The CSX train was headed from Cumberland, Maryland, to Hamlet, North Carolina, when it derailed at about 6:40 a.m. Sunday, and 14 cars left the tracks. No injuries were reported in the accident.
A total of 16 cars were involved in a freight train derailment in the nation’s capital over the weekend, CSX said Monday, not the 15 previously reported.
CSX, which is based in Jacksonville, Florida, has said the train had three locomotives and 175 cars, including 94 that were loaded with mixed freight, and 81 that were empty.
Sodium hydroxide, also known as corrosive lye, is a chemical that can irritate and burn the skin and eyes.
Photos tweeted by D.C. Fire and Emergency showed cars in a zigzag line across the tracks.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the region’s transit system, said the Rhode Island Avenue station reopened Monday morning and normal service on the Red Line had resumed.
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Metro service was canceled between the NoMa-Gallaudet and Brookland stations. Amtrak officials are busing passengers off train 30 at Marc’s Point in Rocks Station, Md.to D.C. and points in between.
