CSX Train Derails Near Wartrace, Tenn., Prompting Evacuation Over Ethanol Tank Cars

WARTRACE, Tenn. — Just after sunrise on a recent Tuesday, Shelley Smith was sitting in her home office on Bugscuffle Road when the ground suddenly seemed to jolt.

“I heard it and it sounded like an earthquake,” she said. “Just a loud boom.”

Moments later, sirens began to echo up the dead-end road on the edge of this Bedford County town. A CSX freight train had derailed on a siding near the end of the lane. Several rail cars were off the tracks, and four tank cars carrying denatured alcohol — a flammable ethanol product — lay on their sides within sight of nearby homes.

By 7:20 a.m. on Jan. 20, officials were ordering residents to leave.

A derailment, an evacuation and a narrow escape

Authorities say the train derailed around 7 a.m. CST near Bugscuffle Road, a dead-end street outside Wartrace where pastureland and modest houses back up to a CSX line. The train was operating on a side track off the main line that connects communities including Bell Buckle, Wartrace and Normandy.

Wartrace Fire Chief Robert Dye said several rail cars left the tracks, including four tank cars loaded with denatured alcohol, also known as ethanol. The tankers ended up on their sides.

With overturned cars of flammable liquid sitting at a dead end, Dye ordered an immediate evacuation.

“Because this road is a dead end, only access is right here,” he said. “So we started cutting gates and fences … to get people out through the main highway.”

Roughly 50 homes along and near Bugscuffle Road were told to evacuate as a precaution. Two bedridden residents were moved out of the area by emergency medical crews.

Amanda Sanders was already at work when her husband called to say something had happened near their home.

“He called me about 7:06 and said a train had derailed,” Sanders said. “By 7:20 the city called and said we had to evacuate.”

Sanders said she later learned the overturned cars behind their neighborhood were loaded with denatured alcohol.

“They were all full of ethanol and it could have exploded and leveled our homes,” she said. “God was protecting all of us. This could have ended so much worse.”

No leaks, spills, fires, injuries or fatalities were reported. Hazardous materials specialists from CSX and local agencies inspected the derailed tank cars and determined they were intact.

By around 12:20 p.m., Bedford County officials lifted the evacuation order and told residents they could return. Bugscuffle Road and the immediate rail area remained closed to through traffic for cleanup and investigation, and authorities urged people to stay off the road to give heavy equipment room to operate.

Flammable cargo, intact tanks

County officials described the cargo as denatured alcohol — ethanol that has been chemically treated to make it undrinkable so it can be used as a fuel or industrial solvent. Under federal hazardous materials regulations, denatured alcohol is classified as a Class 3 flammable liquid, typically shipped under the proper shipping name “denatured alcohol” and identification number NA 1987.

Ethanol is highly flammable and, in large quantities, can feed intense fires if a tank car ruptures. Unlike some toxic gases and chemicals, it does not typically pose a severe inhalation hazard if contained.

Dye said the decision to evacuate was based on the potential for a fire or explosion if one of the overturned tank cars had been compromised.

“When you’ve got flammable liquid in tank cars on their side that close to houses, you don’t wait to see if they leak,” he said. “You get people out first.”

In a statement through local officials, Bedford County government said no further evacuations were expected once the integrity of the cars was confirmed and that residents “who were evacuated … are now permitted to return home as necessary.”

Cause under investigation

As of late January, the cause of the derailment remained under investigation. There has been no public information released on the train’s length, speed or the condition of the track at the time of the incident.

Federal rules require railroads to report accidents to the Federal Railroad Administration, including derailments and any involving hazardous materials or evacuations. Detailed data on causes typically appears later in federal databases. The National Transportation Safety Board, which often investigates major rail accidents, has not announced a field investigation in Wartrace.

The CSX main line through the area was not blocked by the derailment. Trains were allowed to continue using the line at reduced speeds, and Bedford County officials warned of longer waits at grade crossings and possible delays for school buses using alternate routes.

In the days after the crash, the Wartrace Fire Department advised residents that the derailed tank cars would remain “for an extended period” while CSX arranged to transfer the ethanol into replacement cars on site. The agency asked the public to stay away from the cars and to report any suspicious activity to the sheriff’s office.

A train that likely fell short of ‘high-hazard’ status

The Wartrace derailment involved at least four tank cars of denatured alcohol, a flammable liquid. Safety advocates say it is an example of how potentially dangerous trains can move through communities without being classified as “high-hazard” under federal definitions.

Current U.S. Department of Transportation rules define a “high-hazard flammable train” generally as one with 20 or more consecutive tank cars, or 35 or more total cars, containing flammable liquid. Those trains face additional requirements, including route analysis, speed restrictions in some areas and, in certain cases, enhanced braking and tank-car standards.

Because only four ethanol cars were involved near Wartrace, rail safety specialists say the train probably did not meet that threshold. The U.S. Department of Transportation treats denatured alcohol as ethanol for tank-car regulation purposes.

A similar issue arose after a 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where a Norfolk Southern train carrying several cars of vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials left the tracks and caught fire, leading to evacuations and a controlled burn of chemicals. That train was not classified as a high-hazard flammable train under existing rules.

In the wake of that incident, members of Congress introduced proposals such as the Railway Safety Act of 2023 and the DERAIL Act, which would, among other changes, apply stricter requirements to more trains carrying flammable and toxic substances. Many of those measures have not been enacted.

Frequent incidents, uneven readiness

Industry groups point to federal data showing that railroads have reduced accident and derailment rates over the past two decades and that more than 99.99% of hazardous materials shipments by rail reach their destinations without a release.

At the same time, federal records and independent analyses show that communities experience hazardous-material derailments on a regular basis, many of which involve evacuations or fires.

A nationwide investigation by academic and news organizations in recent years found that only a fraction of U.S. fire departments have dedicated hazardous-materials teams, leaving many small towns reliant on mutual-aid agreements and state support that can take time to mobilize.

Wartrace, a town of about 700 people, drew on multiple agencies on Jan. 20, including Bedford County emergency management, fire and EMS, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Tennessee Department of Health, along with CSX’s own hazmat personnel.

For some residents, the response was reassuring. For others, the incident highlighted how dependent they are on a single road and on infrastructure built decades ago.

“I had plans for the day and now I can’t do those plans,” said resident Pete McKillip as he waited out the evacuation.

Living next to the line

Tennessee has seen more severe rail accidents. In 2015, an overheated roller bearing on a CSX freight train led to a derailment and fire involving a tank car of acrylonitrile near Maryville, forcing more than 5,000 people to evacuate and sending nearly 200 to area hospitals for treatment. In December 2025, a CSX train derailed in Todd County, Kentucky, spilling molten sulfur and prompting a shelter-in-place order.

By comparison, Wartrace’s derailment was a best-case scenario: no leak, no fire, no one hurt. Yet for people on Bugscuffle Road, it was enough to change how they look at the tracks at the end of the lane.

Days after residents returned, the toppled tank cars still sat in place, a reminder of how close a near miss can feel in a small town.

“When you realize those cars are right there behind your house, it’s scary,” Sanders said. “We’re thankful we’re safe. But now we know what could happen.”