A Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed in the Inskip neighborhood of Knoxville about 10 p.m. Saturday, damaging two industrial buildings housing local businesses.
The derailment took place near the intersection of East Inskip Drive and Fennel Road. A total of 19 shipping containers were derailed, according to Norfolk Southern Director of Public Relations Susan Terpay.
The crash sent train cars colliding into two buildings owned by Morton Properties, which has five buildings total in the area and rents the space out to small businesses, according to Sharon Morton, who owns the company with her husband, Robert.
A total of 18 businesses are housed in the properties and Morton estimated that about five were damaged, including a boat repair business.
No one was in the buildings at the time and no injuries were reported, according to Lt. Chris Baldwin of the Knoxville Police Department.
"There is a boat repair business, heating and air, all kinds of small businesses," Morton said. "It's unfortunate because it's their livelihood."
No details on the cause of the crash were available Saturday night. The investigation will be handled by Norfolk Southern, Baldwin said. He did not have information on the contents of the shipping cars and only said that they did not contain hazardous material.
Nonetheless, KPD warned people to avoid the area while officers assessed the scene for "potential hazards." They are also warning people about traffic delays in the coming days.
Cedar Lane was reopened Sunday morning, according to Terpay, but Inskip Drive "probably will be closed several days" for cleanup and repair of the tracks, Baldwin said.
Terpaysaid Sunday that crews from Norfolk Southern worked through the night to fix the derailment and that they are now working to remove the rail cars and containers from the tracks. The train consisted of three locomotives and 68 rail cars.
The derailment was blocking one highway-rail grade crossing at Inskip Road. Sections of the tracks were moved nearly 15 feet from their original location during the derailment, and double-stacked shipping containers had been severely disfigured and were leaning at perilous angles over what was left of the chain link fence around the tracks.
One of the businesses damaged by the derailment was Fiber Tech, 230 E. Inskip Dr., which does boat repairs.
"One of the cars is sitting inside my building," said a man answering the phone there who said he was the owner of the business but would not give further identification. "There was a motor home parked next to the building. There is a train car sitting on it. Inside the building is a train car that came through the back of the building."
He said the business was closed and no one was there at the time of the derailment. In the dark, he said, it was hard to tell the extent of the damage.
Michael Armstrong, who works at Glassworks Car Audio next door to Fiber Tech, said that he had left the area only an hour before the train derailed. Armstrong said he had just stepped out of the shower when he got a text saying that a train had gone off the tracks and hit a building.
Armstrong was on the scene Saturday night with his son and his friend Michael Robinson when he saw that his RV, which was parked on the south side of the Fiber Tech building, had been crushed by the rogue containers as well. The same containers ripped open the side of the Fiber Tech building, creating a 15-foot hole to the interior.
Armstrong, who was allowed near the scene to investigate his RV, estimated that close to 100 crew members from Norfolk Southern were on the scene working to remove the containers and train cars. Armstrong, his son and Robinson were made to leave the scene after he discovered what he believed was gasoline leaking from his RV.
Once crews have finished removing the containers and cars from the tracks, they will begin to repair the tracks and take the derailed cars and containers from the scene.