EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) — Norfolk Southern says it’s doing its best to keep the community safe as contaminated soil and water in East Palestine are disposed of.

Norfolk Southern is working together as a unified command with local officials and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It really is a team effort, with everyone approving what operations are going on at any given time,” said Bryan Naranjo, assistant manager of environmental operations.

He says the unified command is finalizing a plan to excavate the track, which is currently sitting on contaminated soil. Naranjo could not specify when the excavation will start but described what the process will look like once it begins.

“Excavation will take a couple days for the track — the first track — and they will remove that material, and then go back and put tracks in, and then start on the second track,” Narajo said.

About 4,000 tons of contaminated soil are still at the site, waiting to be disposed of.

Norfolk Southern says it’s doing what it can to ensure this can be cleaned and that no contaminated material gets out without it being contained and properly disposed of.

One thing they are doing is cleaning trucks. Anything that comes into the derailment site is getting cleaned off to ensure safety is at the forefront.

And, with rain in the forecast Friday, crews are preparing.

“Making sure the dams that we have are secured and armored so that they can withhold the rain, so we don’t lose anything from the site,” Naranjo said.

Naranjo wants the public to trust the agencies involved to get the job done.

“We’re trying to do this correctly. We’re trying to do this the right way,” Naranjo says.