WATCH: Weekend Train Derainment Gums Up Car, Rail Traffic In DC.
John Matthews
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (CNN/WMAL) Metrorail operations resumed Monday on a normal schedule, but several MARC commuter trains were canceled Monday following a train derailment that closed parts of Rhode Island Avenue, NE Sunday.
MARC’s Brunswick line is operating just three trains Monday, with all service ending in Silver Spring. Metro is accepting Brunswick line tickets for travel Monday.
A CSX train derailed about 6:40 a.m. Sunday in Washington and leaked sodium hydroxide, according to Doug Buchanan, a D.C. fire department spokesman. He said there was “no danger to the community due to this derailment” and blasted some media reports that suggested otherwise.
The material is not combustible but when it comes into contact with moisture or water, it can generate sufficient heat to ignite combustible substances, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cleanup and recovery efforts continued all day Sunday and through the overnight, according to CSX spokeswoman Kristin Seay.
The train derailed near the Rhode Island Avenue metro station. The major thoroughfare in D.C. was shut down for hours.
The leak was contained by around noon Sunday, Buchanan said.
Nine to 10 cars derailed, Buchanan said. Workers, including those who specialize in hazardous materials, were at the site. The Federal Railroad Administration is leading an investigation into the derailment.
The train was traveling from Cumberland, Maryland, to Hamlet, North Carolina. It carried 175 cars, 94 of them loaded with mixed freight, CXS spokeswoman Kristin Seay said.
One car contained sodium hydroxide, which is used to make household products such as paper and soap.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. (PHOTO: youtube/AP)
