Norfolk Southern has completed physical restoration activities at the site of the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Now that the primary cleanup work is over, any further work will likely involve site maintenance, along with water monitoring programs established with various government agencies. Village manager Antonio Diaz-Guy stated to local press that “I think our water is probably cleaner now than it was 100 years ago, given our industrial past, especially mining.”

NS has also submitted a final assessment report regarding two local waterways to the Environmental Protection Agency, which will determine if NS and its contractors have indeed met the required remediation goals. This filing outlines completed cleanup work and results from recent sediment sampling. It notes that crews did not find any derailment-related oily sheens in either creek during the final inspection. Since early 2025, crews have focused cleanup efforts on the removal of contaminated sediment from the streambeds in the village. 

—Scott Lindsey