(The following article by Ken Rogers was posted on The Troy Messenger website on December 11.)
TROY, Ala. — A CSX Transportation freight train derailed as it came into Troy early Saturday morning.
No one was injured, according to a CSX Transportation investigator at the scene who requested his name not be used. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Nine cars of an 89-car train derailed on a couple hundred yard stretch of track that parallels Alabama Hwys. 29 and 10 less than a mile outside the 231 overpass. The cars were carrying limestone, pulp paper and wood. A couple cars were empty, the investigator said.
“We probably won’t know what happened for a while,” he said. “But this doesn’t look like a terrorist incident.”
The derailment happened around 3:15 a.m. on Saturday morning. The train was southbound from Montgomery headed to Thomasville, Ga. At 10:30 a.m., crews were working to get the cars upright and perhaps back on the track.
“There were 41 cars ahead of it,” the investigator said. “They were inspected and sent on to Thomasville. We’ll send another train over and get the other cars. We’ll probably be running the train tomorrow, if not later tonight.”
The investigation will involve three CSX departments. The transportation department includes people, the conductor and engineer. The mechanical department covers the cars. The engineering department covers the road bed or track. Each department will examine the scene for clues about what happened and share findings with the other departments.
Calls to CSX Transportation’s corporate communications department were not returned Saturday.