Maine takes railroad to task over cleanup after derailment

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This photo, provided by the Maine Forest Service shows several locomotives and railroad cars burning after a cargo train derailed on Saturday, April 15th, 2023 in Sandwich Academy Grant Township near Rockwood. Officials say that three workers were treated in a hospital and then released, and Canadian Pacific Railway is leading the track and cleanup. (Maine Forest Service via AP)

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The Maine Forest Service provided this photo of several locomotives and railcars burning in Sandwich Academy Grant Township near Rockwood, Maine, after a train derailed on Saturday, April 15th, 2023. Officials say that three workers were treated in a hospital and then released, and Canadian Pacific Railway is leading the track and cleanup. (Maine Forest Service via AP)

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SANDWICH academie GRANT TOWNSHIP (Maine) (AP). The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has taken Canadian Pacific Kansas City on the snout over its cleanup efforts following a derailment of a freight train and ensuing fire.

Melanie Loyzim, the Commissioner of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), sent a letter to the railroad on Thursday informing it that its efforts to mitigate the impact to the public and the environment were not up to par.

The agency expressed concern over two issues: the failure to move a pair rail cars containing hazardous materials farther away from site and the failure of the saddle tanks on locomotives to be removed, which caused a diesel spill. The spilled fuel was estimated to be 500 gallons (1895 liters).

Three people were hospitalized after three locomotive engines, six train cars and lumber and electrical wires that were carrying off the tracks in Somerset County Saturday.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City is in charge of the cleanup, salvage, and repair. It was created from the merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern, which was completed just one day before the derailment.

Since the derailment of Norfolk Southern on February 3, outside East Palestine in Ohio, which released toxic chemicals and forced evacuations, there has been an increasing concern about derailments.

The Maine derailment occurred near Rockwood, a small town of 300 residents on Moosehead Lake about 90 miles (140 km) northwest of Bangor.