FRANKLIN—A derailment that occurred off of General Thomas Highway near the Dominion Power Plant and Ashland Chemical Plant back in September is still under investigation, and now the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved.

“We take these incidents very seriously,” said Melanie Cost, a CSX spokeswoman. “Our top priority is always the safety of our employees, our customers’ freight and the communities in which we operate.

“Regarding the derailment in Franklin, we are cooperating with an active FBI investigation into the cause, and conducting our own investigation, as we do following any incident on our railroad. As those investigations are ongoing, we do not have any updates at this time.”

Cost did not say why the FBI was involved.

An FBI spokesperson could not be reached for comment by deadline.

If you have any information on the derailment, contact the FBI Norfolk Division at 455-0100, or CSX police at 1-877-TELL-CSX (835-5279).

In other news, there was an incident near Boykins on Nov. 23. A CSX train that included two locomotives and 23 cars was making an interchange move within the North Carolina and Virginia Railroad Interchange Yard in Boykins, when two empty gondolas derailed.

No injuries were reported, and there was no extended impact on operations in the yard.

CSX is also investigating the circumstances of that incident.