ATTICA, Ind. — A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in Attica on Wednesday, blocking a main intersection into the early evening but causing no injuries, the Journal and Courier reports.
Shortly before 11 a.m., the Norfolk Southern Corp. train came off the tracks, turning two cars onto their sides. Hazardous material responders initially were dispatched, but were called back when it was determined that the cars were hauling only corn.
Traffic at Jackson Street and Indiana 28/U.S. 41 had to be rerouted until the cars could be uprighted and taken away.
The 48-car train had just loaded up with corn less than a mile away at ADM Countrymark.
Assistant train master Troy Sparks said the railroad had not determined the cause of the derailment as of late Wednesday.
“Everybody will be pooling their information and we’ll all get together tomorrow and figure out what happened,” Sparks said. “The main thing now is just to get the highway opened again and get the cars back on the rails.”
“It’s a mess,” said Joel Brooks, owner of a nearby McDonald’s, who said the street closure cut off vehicular access to his restaurant, limiting his lunch and dinner crowd. “We’re not doing much.”
He sent some employees home because business was so slow. Another McDonald’s employee, Dena Medcalf, took the rest of the day off because she was so distraught by the crash.
When it occurred, she had been on break and was in her vehicle waiting for the train to clear the intersection, Brooks said.
“She was the first in line and the cars literally fell right toward her car,” Brooks said. “She went home shaking.”
Brooks noted that it could have been worse.
“It’s not too good, but no one got hurt and there were no chemical spills,” Brooks said. “It’s pretty big excitement in Attica.”
Norfolk Southern trains derailed twice last year in Fountain County — on Feb. 7 and May 27 — causing $111,000 in track and equipment damage, according to Federal Railroad Administration records.