(The following story by David Hunt appeared on The Florida Times-Union website on November 16.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown is pushing Jacksonville-based CSX Transportation for answers after a bridge derailment Nov. 9 that dumped coal into Washington, D.C.’s Anacostia River.
Federal Railroad Administration officials say the bridge already had been out of service and the derailment is under investigation.
For Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat who chairs the House transportation subcommittee on railroads, the primary concerns are how the train cars wound up on the bridge and how the bridge’s structural deficiencies played a role in the wreck.
“Someone could have been killed,” the congresswoman said Thursday in a telephone interview from Washington. She said she examined the wreck site this week.
“We have got to be sure we have safeguards in place so this doesn’t happen,” she said.
CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan said company officials are calling the incident a “procedural error,” but are continuing to investigate. He said brakes weren’t properly applied and a link of 89 freight cars broke free from a nearby rail yard.
As the cars made it to the bridge, 10 derailed – six of them landing in the river – and the bridge collapsed, Sullivan said. An estimated 600 tons of coal spilled, he said, adding that CSX is working with environmental agencies to clean it up.
There were no reported injuries. Sullivan said it may be another week before workers can hoist each of the six freight cars out of the river.
Sullivan said CSX has fielded questions from Brown and welcomes additional questions from other legislators.
Brown is pushing for safer railroad bridges.
“This is obviously a special case,” said Nick Martinelli, Brown’s legislative director. “Trains derail all the time. If this was in a rail yard it wouldn’t be as big of a deal, but this was in a river.”
Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Steve Kulm said he could release no preliminary details regarding the investigation, which likely will take several months.
He said the derailment did not disrupt passenger train service, and a parallel track continues to carry cargo through the area.