RICHMOND -- CSX Corp. officials defended their safety practices yesterday in the wake of a newspaper series alleging that hundreds of railroad workers have suffered brain damage from long-term exposure to chemicals used to clean train engines, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

"We're talking about practices that were accepted 20 or 30 years ago," said Kathleen Burns, director of media relations and public affairs at CSX Transportation in Jacksonville, Fla.

Burns was referring to a series of articles starting Sunday in the Louisville Courier-Journal investigating the health effects from a number of strong solvents used over a 50-year period by a number of railroads.

CSX Transportation is the railroad arm of Richmond-based CSX Corp.

None of the solvent exposures occurred at the railroad's Richmond area yards, Burns said.

The Courier-Journal reported that CSX has acknowledged paying up to $35 million to 466 current or former workers in settlements or jury verdicts stemming from the health effects of such industrial-strength solvents as 1,1,1,-trichloroethane, trichloroethene and perchloroethylene.

The chlorinated solvents, contained in 55-gallon drums, were used to clean grease and dirt from locomotive parts.

Fumes from the heavier-than-air chemicals settled on workers who were working in repair pits beneath the locomotives, the newspaper said.

Electricians, pipe fitters, mechanics and laborers were supposed to wear respirators with external air supplies to protect them. But supervisors often did not enforce the workplace rules, the newspaper said.

Workers were diagnosed with toxic encephalopathy, an illness characterized by short-term memory loss, depression, anxiety and diminished mental function. They lived in West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and several states in the Deep South.

Another railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, told the Courier-Journal that it has settled more than a half-dozen lawsuits. But the company said it does not believe it ever exposed the plaintiffs to hazardous levels of solvent fumes.

Norfolk Southern Corp. spokesman Frank Brown declined yesterday to say whether his employer had any claims filed against it.

Brown repeated an earlier statement by Norfolk Southern that he does not believe any of its employees now or in the past have been exposed to injurious levels of toxic fumes on company property.

CSX has become the focus of attention for its past practices and the potential liability the personal injury cases carry. At least 80 solvent cases are pending, and other lawsuits against the railroad are expected to be filed this year, according to the newspaper series.

Ten cases against CSX have gone to jury trial, with six verdicts bringing awards to the plaintiffs ranging from $40,000 to $10 million. The $10 million award later was settled on appeal for $1 million.

The average settlement was about $70,000, the newspaper said.

CSX's Burns said the railroad had banned the use of the three toxic chemicals in 1986. Today, it uses a less-toxic type of mineral spirit in small quantities.

The company, which has prevailed in some of the jury trials, continues to deny any link with brain disease.

"We believe those health effects can be caused by many other factors that are unrelated to exposures to solvents," Burns said.

The settlements do not reflect an admission of wrongdoing, she said.

"We look at these the way we look at any claim," she said. "Some go to trial, some settle. We evaluate the claims on a case-by-case basis and make a business decision."

One of the cases was heard in Portsmouth, where a jury awarded a North Carolina man $12 million for brain damage he claimed to have suffered after working with chemical solvents in a North Carolina rail yard in the 1980s.

The amount was later reduced in a confidential settlement.