2005: Graniteville, SC
The accident in East Palestine isn’t the first time that Norfolk Southern has had a crisis on its hands. In January 2005, a Norfolk Southern owned and operated train accidentally diverted onto a track that made it collide with a parked train in Graniteville, South Carolina, derailing 16 of the train’s freight cars. Three of these cars were carrying chlorine and one tank was breached, releasing 90 tons of liquid chlorine. Nine people, including the train engineer and workers at a nearby mill, died of chlorine exposure; 5,400 people were evacuated in a 1-mile radius for several days and more than 550 people were taken to the hospital for respiratory issues.
In a forum held 15 years after the accident, advocates and public health experts outlined some of the effects of the disaster on the surrounding community, including decreased lung function and increased blood pressure in those exposed.
