The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its investigation into the derailment of a CSX freight train in Alexandria last Thursday.
The Alexandria Fire Department received a call that a train had derailed just off Duke Street at around 6 a.m. on Dec. 18. The Hazardous Materials unit was dispatched and conducted an investigation of the 13 cars that had jumped the track. While the cars were carrying sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide, they were nearly empty and nothing spilled.
Metrorail service was disrupted for about 80 minutes and Virginia Rail Express service was disrupted for much longer as there was extensive damage to both the cars and to the tracks.
No one was injured and traffic on Duke Street was not affected.