Norfolk Southern and Ohio revive plan for $20M first responder training center

Norfolk Southern railroad worked with the state of Ohio and Youngstown State University to revive plans for a $20 million first responder training center near the site of the worst derailment in a decade in East Palestine, Ohio.

Building a training center to help prepare firefighters to deal with a railroad disaster was quickly part of the plan after the derailment on Feb. 3, 2023, that forced the evacuation of roughly half the small town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and left residents with worries about the potential long-term health impacts.

But Norfolk Southern said last January that East Palestine officials had agreed with the railroad as part of the town’s $22 million settlement that the training center wasn’t going to be feasible because of concerns about the ongoing operating costs. The railroad even agreed to give 15 acres of land it had bought for the center to the town.

Now the railroad is going to partner with Youngstown State to build and operate the training center to help prepare first responders to deal with the unique challenges of a train derailment that can spill hazardous chemicals being carried in railcars. In East Palestine, the derailed train cars burned for days, and officials decided to blow open five tank cars of vinyl chloride because they feared those cars might explode.

“By working together, we’ve turned this vision of an economic and educational center dedicated to enhancing community safety into a sustainable reality,” railroad CEO Mark George said.

The railroad has committed more than $135 million to help the town recover from the derailment and agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action settlement with residents, though those settlement payments are on hold because of a pending appeal and accounting problems with the first company that was distributing checks.

Local East Palestine first responders will have free access to training at the facility. Mayor Trent Conaway said this will “better prepare them to serve our village and the communities in our region.”