诺福克南部铁路公司（Norfolk Southern Railroad）为俄亥俄州环境官员提供了一项拟议的行动计划，以补救由2月3日的货运火车出轨造成的环境损失，并在宾夕法尼亚州边境附近的东巴勒斯坦发生了火灾，该边界将毒性化学物质释放到空气，土壤和水中，并将其释放到空气，土壤和水中，迫使数百名居民撤离。

Developed and submitted on the railroad’s behalf by Arcadis US Inc., the plan aims to build on response measures implemented in the hours and days following the mishap. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident, has confirmed that a mechanical issue with one of the rail car axles caused about 50 of the 150-car Norfolk Southern train to leave the tracks.

No on-board train personnel were injured, and the remainder of the train was immediately decoupled and moved out of the area.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), approximately 20 untracked rail cars were listed as carrying hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether. Two days after the derailment, Norfolk Southern responders conducted a controlled release of vinyl chloride from five cars to prevent a potential explosion. The chemical was diverted to a trench where it was burned off.

Norfolk Southern emergency response contractors also installed booms and underflow dams in two nearby streams to restrict the flow of contaminated water as well as contain and collect floating product. Recovery operations used a vacuum truck and sorbent pads. Surface water was treated using aeration pumps and a mobile granular activated carbon treatment unit, according to the action plan.

To date, the action plan says, “approximately 180,000 gallons of separate-phase liquids and water have been collected from the derailment site, and are currently stored in nine fractionation (frac) tanks pending characterization and offsite transportation and disposal. Two 20-cu-yd roll-off containers of butyl acrylate and petroleum impacted absorbents are also staged onsite pending characterization and offsite transportation and disposal.”

Since the derailment, air monitoring by the EPA has detected no airborne contaminants beyond levels of concern, though residents continue to complain of unusual odors. Results from surface and well-water monitoring, which is being overseen by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, are pending, though no restrictions on water use are in place.

出轨后不久，西弗吉尼亚州的水说，尽管其主要俄亥俄河的进气口（位于东巴勒斯坦下游）没有改变，但在支流河上将建立次要进气口。

EPA notified Norfolk Southern in a Feb. 10 letter that the railroad may be liable for site cleanup costs arising from the derailment, including those already incurred by the agency.

The railroad’s remedial action work plan says that data from soil sampling and installation of a groundwater monitoring well network will help refine future remediation strategies. It notes that, while “the precise nature and extent of impacts requiring remediation is not fully known,” the overall objectives of contaminant removal and protection of human and ecological health, “may be achieved through a combination of active engineered efforts (e.g., soil excavation or in situ treatment), engineering, institutional and administrative controls and natural systems (e.g., monitored natural attenuation).”

Yet to be determined, however, is how long the remediation effort will last. The action plan says the scope and schedule for the work “is heavily dependent on the results of ongoing site restoration and characterization.” For example, the onsite well network cannot be established until site restoration and large-scale soil removal around the derailment area are completed. Possible approaches to accelerate the pace of groundwater sampling and study are under consideration, while surface water treatment and free-phase liquid treatment will continue on a daily or continuous basis until modified by a future agreement with Ohio EPA.

诺福克南部（Norfolk Southern）也没有对何时将出轨的铁路走廊恢复到货运交通的何时提供估计。该走廊处理上西部和东北部之间的货运，包括涉及纽约和新泽西州港口管理局的货运。