Confusion Reigns as CSX Freight Train Derails, Leaks 1,500 Gallons of Diesel Fuel
(Bladensburg, Maryland – November 29, 2011)
What was first reported as a grade crossing collision with a truck at an industrial park in Bladensburg, MD Tuesday afternoon about 3:00 P.M. turned out, instead, to be a derailment of a single locomotive which ran through a railroad safety device intended to halt collisions between trains.
The accident, near the 2900 block of 52nd Avenue, culminated with the CSX locomotive “flipping partially off of the tracks,” according to Prince George’s County Fire Dept. spokesman Mark Brady, crashing into a railroad crossing signal and gate apparatus, and spilling 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel from the derailed locomotive’s fuel tanks.
Brady said that the accident occurred at a location which is a frequent site of train/vehicular collisions.
