Ohio train derailment costs double to $803 million, Norfolk Southern says

The costs associated with Norfolk Southern's fiery February derailment in Ohio have more than doubled to $803 million as the railroad works to clean up the mess and moves forward with all the related lawsuits.

Norfolk Southern recorded another $416 million charge related to the East Palestine derailment on Thursday as part of its second-quarter earnings after previously announcing a $387 million charge earlier this year. Most of the costs are related to the cleanup of the hazardous chemicals that were released, but $222 million is a combination of legal fees and the $63 million of assistance it has offered to the community. The company faces a number of class-action lawsuits as well as a suit filed by Ohio authorities and a federal civil suit brought by the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

The derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border prompted a national conversation about railroad safety after thousands of people had to evacuate when officials decided to blow open several tank cars filled with vinyl chloride, a gas used to make plastic, because they believed they might explode. The resulting fire sent a towering plume of black smoke over the town three days after the derailment spilled several other hazardous chemicals, including butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene. The company said in February that the derailment contaminated at least 15,000 pounds of soil and 1.1 million gallons of water.