BALTIMORE (AP) -- Baltimore plans to sue the CSX railroad company Friday for causing the 2001 derailment of a train loaded with chemicals that burned for five days in a tunnel beneath the city's streets.
The city is seeking $10 million, to cover the cost of fighting the fire, repairing a broken water main and other costs.
``The city's taxpayers should not bear the burden of costs that rightfully reside with CSX, the party whose actions and inactions caused the derailment and ensuing fire and water main break,'' City Solicitor Ralph Tyler said in a memo summarizing the lawsuit for Mayor Martin O'Malley. The (Baltimore) Sun obtained the memo.
O'Malley's office planned a news conference Friday morning on the suit.
Misty Skipper, a spokeswoman for Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX, said the company plans to review the complaint and defend itself vigorously.
Eleven cars of the 60-car train, including tankers containing toxic acids, derailed inside the Howard Street tunnel, which runs under the city's central business district.
A tanker carrying tripropylene was punctured and the chemical caught fire, setting ablaze seven cars carrying paper products. Around that same time, a 40-inch water main that ran directly above the tunnel ruptured, sending water into the tunnel, collapsing several city streets and flooding nearby buildings.
CSX says water and debris from the water main caused the accident. The city says the water main break was a result of the accident.
The damage shut down the city for days, postponing baseball games, causing millions of dollars in damages to businesses and forcing the city to pay overtime for emergency crews and cleanup.
The three-year statute of limitations for claims related to the disaster is Monday, the day after the third anniversary of the crash. Several lawsuits have been filed recently against the company.
The National Transportation Safety Board isn't expected to complete its investigation for months. Experts have said the cause of the July 18, 2001, derailment might go unsolved because evidence was lost in the fire.
The Connecticut-based insurer for the Baltimore Orioles - The Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. - is attempting to recover more than $1 million in damages from CSX and the city for the loss of revenue from ticket and concession sales.
The suit charges CSX with negligence in the inspection and maintenance of the company's tracks and the tunnel. It says the city neglected to inspect and maintain water lines in and around the tunnel. The insurance company says both lapses contributed to the accident.
The insurer for the Maryland Institute College of Art, which sits at the north end of the 1.7 mile tunnel, has sued CSX to recover more than $100,000 in damages as a result of the accident.
Residents and other area businesses have also sued CSX and the city for damages related to the accident.
