(The following story by Gary Taylor appeared on the Orlando Sentinel website on January 23.)
ORLANDO, Fla. — A military train containing live ordnance derailed near Charleston, S.C., Thursday night, Amtrak officials and workers said.
Amtrak spokeswoman Marcie Golgoski confirmed that there had been a train derailment but would not provide further details. An Amtrak official, however, told the Sentinel that the train was carrying live military ordnance.
The derailment forced Amtrak to cancel Friday’s Auto Train service and left passengers stranded on trains that departed Thursday from Sanford and Lorton, Va. The derailment closed three CSX Transportation lines through Charleston.
Thirteen cars from the military train derailed, including three containing live ordnance, the official said.
The southbound Auto Train was still in Florence, S.C., where it should have departed at 1 a.m. Plans were being made to reroute the train through Columbia, S.C. Meanwhile, the northbound Auto Train that left Sanford Thursday afternoon was being backed up to Savannah, Ga., so that it could be rerouted to Lorton through Columbia. That train was not expected in Savannah until about noon, more than three hours after it should have arrived in Lorton, said Amtrak spokeswoman Marcie Golgoski.