(The following article by April Yee was posted on the St. Petersburg Times website on August 11.)
MASARYKTOWN, Fla. — A coal train derailed south of Brooksville Thursday afternoon, blocking traffic and delaying some parents on their way to pick up children from school.
At a spot a quarter-mile north of Ayers Road, 18 cars full of coal were laid out across the tracks, which are owned by CSX Transportation Inc. Some cars were knocked onto their sides, and the coal, destined for a power plant, was spilled.
County employees barricaded the road’s entrance at U.S. 41, and Sgt. Mike Burzumato of the Hernando Sheriff’s Office said the rural road would likely remain closed for at least six hours.
This isn’t the only such incident this year for CSX Transportation Inc., the Jacksonville company that owns the train and track.
From January to May, CSX reported eight derailments in Florida, according to the Federal Railroad Administration Web site. That number represents more than half of the state’s derailments.
“One is too many,” said Jane Covington, a CSX spokeswoman. “We do everything we can to prevent any kind of derailment.”
Recently, on July 30, another CSX train derailed on Busch Boulevard in Tampa. FBI officials learned that night that a knuckle, a metal part that secures freight cars, had been left on the track, according to an earlier St. Petersburg Times report.
“No reason to believe there’s a connection,” Covington said of the two derailments.
The Sheriff’s Office will not investigate the derailment, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Donna Black.
“There’s no indication of anything suspicious at this point,” Black said.
Capt. James Chorvat of Hernando County Fire Rescue said it couldn’t be determined how fast the train was traveling at the time.
CSX will investigate the cause of the derailment using a black box on the locomotive, much like those used on aircraft, said Meg Sheu, another company spokeswoman.
“When there’s a derailment we look at three things,” Sheu said. “We look at the track, the train itself and how the train was being operated – the speed, braking, things like that.”
The conductor and engineer were not hurt and were relieved of duty for the rest of the day, said Sheu. Contractors planned to arrive Thursday night to fix the train and track and to clean up spilled coal, she said, and the work might last until today.
The train, which has two locomotives and 97 coal cars, originated in Tennessee and turned around in Tampa to deliver the coal, Sheu said.
Shortly after the derailment, residents driving west on Ayers Road encountered the blocked track and a contingent of county fire rescue and sheriff’s employees.
Gary Reynolds parked his red truck at the crossing. Through the space between freight cars, he asked Chorvat what was going on. He had to pick up his 9-year-old son from Chocachatti Elementary School.
When he learned of the derailment, he turned around and headed for Powell Road, a detour that would cost him an extra 20 minutes, Reynolds said.
The train also briefly blocked the entrance to Rivard Golf Club, just north of the derailment, said Bob Fox, 80, director of golf. The automatic barriers had come down before the train’s arrival, he said. The golf community contains more than 100 homes.