Investigators Continue to Examine Ellicott City's Deadly Train Derailment

The potential dangers of having a freight train running through town were highlighted once again Tuesday when a CSX train crashed into a semi-truck in Rosedale.

Fifteen rail cars derailed, followed by an explosion that witnesses said could be seen and felt for miles.

Last year, Ellicott City found itself in a similar situation to Rosedale.

Just over nine months have passed since two 19-year-old Ellicott City women were crushed by coal from a derailing train on the CSX bridge that looms over Main Street.

As of March, there were no updates to the Ellicott City investigation, according to NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss. Shortly after the crash, he said that the formal investigation can take between 12 and 18 months to complete.

In a preliminary report released in early September 2012, NTSB investigators did not specify any potential causes of the accident in Ellicott City, except to suggest that weather and speed were not the causes of the derailment.

The derailment caused six coal cars to fall off the tracks and fall about 15 feet to parking lot B, along the Patapsco River. 

Two 19-year-old Ellicott City college students, Rose Mayr and Elizabeth Nass, were killed when the train derailed. They were sitting on the north side of the train bridge over Main Street and were crushed by coal and suffocated, according to police.

In April, CSX began making repairs to the retaining wall in lot B that was damaged in the accident. The Ellicott City derailment and subsequent clean-up cost CSX about $2.2 million, according to an NTSB statement.

Brandie Jefferson contributed to this report.