Businesses File Suit Over Paulsboro Train Derailment

Businesses are the latest to sue over a freight train derailment in Paulsboro.

They contend they suffered economic losses and their families faced health risks when a half-dozen rail cars of a Conrail train derailed on a bridge over Mantua Creek in November. One tanker released vinyl chloride into the air; a plaintiff claims she drove into a fog bank of the material that was so thick she had to turn on her high beams.The same plaintiff says property values have plummeted in Paulsboro to nearly nothing.

A store owner that is part of the suit says he had to close his store because he had no business.

The suit also calls for a medical monioring program to be paid for by Conrail.

No one was seriously sickened, but more than 300 homes and businesses were evacuated for parts of the following week.

Conrail spokesman Michael Hotra tells the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill the railroad will respond to the lawsuits in the courts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report