On January 6, 2005, a Norfolk Southern train with forty-two cars attached, traveling at approximately fifty miles per hour, struck a misaligned switch, sending the locomotive into the path of a parked locomotive. derailing both. Three of the tank cars contained chlorine, and one car was breached in the accident, dumping 180,000 pounds of poisonous gas into the atmosphere. The disaster left nine dead, with more than 250 people hospitalized for respiratory issues.
Crashes like that one still happen today. On Feb. 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Over two days of fires and controlled burns, hydrogen chloride and phosgene were released into the air.
The 2005 Graniteville Train Crash remains one of the worst rail disasters in South Carolina’s history.
Written By John G. Clark Jr.
