(The following article by Mabel Perez was posted on the Ocala Star-Banner website on October 11.)
OCALA, Fla. — Locals couldn’t help but come to the Ocala Train Station on Sunday to see the aftermath of a CSX freight train derailment that left a car garage and an outdoor passenger walkway overhang destroyed.
“Curiosity got the best of us. We had to come and see,” said Betty Whipple.
She, along with her 12-year-old grandson, were among many spectators who came to see and take pictures of clean-up crews moving heaps of sandy coal and other debris from the tracks where nine cars of a 71-car train derailed Saturday late afternoon. Mullins Automotive and Truck Center and an outdoor passenger walkway at the station were damaged. No one was injured or killed.
Ocala Assistant City Manager Bill Looney said it isn’t clear how much damage the derailment caused.
“We haven’t completed our assessment at this point…,” he said, adding that damage assessment could take a few days. “Obviously you could tell the overhang of the covered area was damaged.”
Mullins Automotive and Truck Center is off limits until a building inspectors deems the garage safe. A corner of the building was nicked by the train and a gaping hole shows several cars and trucks parked inside the garage. Ocala Police officers are surveying the area and making sure people don’t get in the way of workers.
Nonetheless, CSX hopes to have the tracks open today. Crews have worked nonstop since the accident and the goal is have the area cleaned up and ready for service early today.
“We started on re-railing the cars last night…,” said Gary Sease, CSX spokesman in Jacksonville. “We need to do it quickly to restore train traffic.”
CSX investigators were also collecting evidence in hopes of finding a cause. Sease said it could take weeks before a cause is determined but said investigators look at the human factor, equipment or locomotive cause or track structure.
According to Wendall Rora, Ocala Fire-Rescue public information officer, part of the train’s undercarriage was found at Northeast 17th Road and Northeast 12th Avenue, about 12 blocks from the station, by firefighters who responded to a brush fire there.
Sease does not believe that the National Transportation Safety Board will be involved in the probe. NTSB could not be reached for comment.
Whipple’s grandson, Steven has his own assessment.
“I think they need to have more maintenance on those trains,” he said. “I bet it was a rusty wheel, or it’s either a problem with the train or the tracks.”
As far as damage, Sease said CSX would step up to the plate financially to take care of both private and city owned properties that were affected.
“We’re going to make sure we step up to our responsibilities,” he said. “We will make sure we cover all damages caused by the train.”