CSX moves to excavate derailment site in Summers County

SUMMERS COUNTY, W.Va. (WVVA) - CSX reported Friday the final derailed locomotive had been removed from the scene of Wednesday’s derailment.

As of Friday, following that removal, teams were working to excavate the impacted area in an effort to ensure diesel fuel didn’t spread from the derailment site along the New River.

CSX remains responsible for the cleanup -- but the company is working under the supervision of the National Parks Service, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and W.Va.’s Department of Environmental Protection.

“The excavation will take some time, I believe we’ll need to be removing a pretty significant amount of that material that’s there,” said Bryan Tucker, VP of Corporate Communications for CSX. “And make sure that we get all of the soil and gravel that could have come in contact with the diesel, that we can then make sure that it’s completely decontaminated, and new rock and new soil can be put in there so it can be fully and completely restored.”

As of Friday, there remained no timeline in-place for restoration of service on the impacted rail.

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