VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Days after a train derailed in Van Buren Township, investigators are still working to learn what caused around 30 cars to go off the rails.
The derailment happened last week Thursday near Huron River Dr. between Martinsville and Haggerty roads. First responders say at first glance there was no evidence that hazardous materials spilled and there were no injuries.
"It was concerning 'cause you don’t know what’s going on and I think really still they haven’t said why the train derailed," said Mary Hayden who lives in a neighborhood near the derailment.
Hayden says the derailment was especially alarming after watching the catastrophic outcome of a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio just weeks earlier.
"I feel bad for those people you don’t know what could make you sick if something busted open down there," said Hayden of the Ohio derailment.
The derailment in Ohio happened on Feb 3. Transportation officials say the Norfolk Southern train derailment led to the contamination of nearby soil and the release of vinyl chloride. Neighbors in the area have since complained of a mass fish kill in the creek and health issues.
Neighbors say the East Palestine incident is the reason chemical spills were top of mind when news broke of the Van Buren Township derailment.
"The morning of the derailment all we heard was sirens and then maybe 15, 20 minutes after the sirens we heard a helicopter over the house," said one neighbor who did not want to be identified. "It’s scary because you don’t know what’s on these trains."
Investigators said of the train cars traveling through Van Buren Township Thursday, only one contained hazardous materials. The car that held liquid chlorine was located away from the section of railcars that overturned. The EPA conducted air monitoring following the derailment and confirmed normal air quality.
"The typical freight cars that run through there, this is the atypical situation with only one hazardous material car. Usually there’s a lot more on the trains that run through," said Van Buren Township Fire Chief David McInally.
Fire Chief McInally says train derailments don’t happen often but fire crews prepare for them with hazmat training.
The Thursday derailment marked the second time within a year that a train went off the tracks in metro Detroit. Back in the fall of 2022, a train with cars carrying chlorine and hydrochloric acid derailed near Warren.
The Federal Railroad Association is the only entity that directly regulates U.S. rail travel. The FRA says there’s no system in place to track what kinds of chemicals are coming down the rail lines in real time. The FRA says railroad companies will provide that information upon written request.
The FRA does however track safety data and incident reports and could potentially be adding more measures. Following the Ohio derailment, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg called on U.S. railroads to begin providing advance notification to state emergency response teams when they are transporting hazardous gas tank cars through their states. The U.S. Department of Transportation is also pursuing further requirements in this area.
The Van Buren Township derailment remains under investigation.
