SPRINGVILLE, Ala. — Two Norfolk Southern freight trains derailed in central Alabama on Thursday — one in Chilton County and another hours later in St. Clair County — disrupting traffic, prompting a precautionary evacuation in Springville and leaving railroad crews with cleanup expected to continue for days.
No injuries, hazardous-material releases or immediate threats to the public were reported in either derailment, according to local authorities and Norfolk Southern.
The first derailment was reported about 9:55 a.m. near Foshee Avenue in Maplesville, a town in Chilton County. A Norfolk Southern train carrying trash derailed near Highway 22 and Railroad Street, authorities said.
Maplesville police initially estimated that 15 to 20 cars had derailed. Later accounts from officials placed the number as high as 40 to 50 cars, including roughly 25 cars that were stacked on top of one another. The variation reflects the preliminary nature of the assessment as crews worked at the scene. Norfolk Southern’s cause of the Maplesville derailment had not been released as of early Friday.
Authorities said no hazardous materials were aboard the train, no injuries were reported and nearby homes were not damaged. Debris from the trash-hauling train was scattered around the site, and officials said cleanup could take two to three days or longer. Foshee Avenue remained blocked Thursday night, though the main Highway 22 intersection and the Mulberry Street intersection reopened.
The derailment also disrupted travel in and around Maplesville, where Chilton County emergency officials said the blocked track area affected two of the town’s three primary routes in and out. The Alabama Department of Transportation assisted with traffic control, and school bus delays were anticipated for some Maplesville High School students.
About five hours later, a second Norfolk Southern train derailed in Springville, in St. Clair County northeast of Birmingham.
Norfolk Southern said the Springville derailment occurred after a northbound train collided with a tractor-trailer at a crossing near Industrial Drive and Walker Drive. The company’s initial assessment found that two locomotives and 34 railcars derailed. The collision was reported to St. Clair County 911 about 2:16 p.m., Springville Fire Chief Richard Harvey said.
Authorities initially ordered people in a half-mile area around the derailment to evacuate as responders determined what the train was carrying. The evacuation area included the vicinity of Buckner Trailers, Industrial Drive and Walker Drive. Officials later reduced the zone to 1,000 feet and canceled the evacuation by Thursday evening after determining that the derailed cars did not contain hazardous materials.
“There is no danger or threat to the public,” Harvey said after the evacuation was canceled.
Interstate 59 and U.S. Highway 11 were temporarily closed near the Springville scene but reopened Thursday afternoon. Industrial Drive remained closed between Walker Drive and Marietta Road, and Mountain View Road remained closed at the railroad crossing, according to fire officials.
The tractor-trailer driver was evaluated after the Springville crash but did not require hospitalization, according to reports Thursday. No other injuries were reported.
The two incidents are separate, and there was no indication Thursday that they were connected.
Two derailments involving the same railroad in one state on the same day is unusual from a public-impact standpoint, particularly because the Springville wreck led to a precautionary evacuation and temporary closure of an interstate. But freight-train derailments remain a regularly reported category of railroad accident nationally, ranging from low-speed yard incidents involving a few cars to major mainline wrecks.
Federal Railroad Administration regulations require railroads to report monthly rail-equipment accidents and incidents, highway-rail grade-crossing crashes and casualties. The agency investigates more serious incidents, including derailments involving significant property damage, fatalities, hazardous-material releases, evacuations or large numbers of derailed cars.
Rail-industry data based on Federal Railroad Administration records show derailments nationwide declined 13.6% in 2025 from the previous year, while the overall train-accident rate fell 14%, according to the Association of American Railroads. The industry group said derailments have declined about 46% since 2005. Those figures describe national trends and do not establish how often multiple derailments occur in a single state on the same day.
Norfolk Southern has had other significant Alabama incidents in recent years. In March 2023, about 30 Norfolk Southern cars derailed in Calhoun County, with no hazardous-material leak reported. A month later, a Norfolk Southern locomotive and 11 cars derailed in Jasper, injuring two crew members.
In January 2024, a Norfolk Southern engineer was killed in a Decatur rail-yard accident after a rolling block of 35 railcars struck the locomotive he was operating. The National Transportation Safety Board later concluded that a conductor’s failure to verify that hand brakes had been applied allowed the cars to roll free.
The causes of Thursday’s two derailments remain under investigation.