(The Times Daily posted the following story by Bernie Delinski on its website on July 10.)
FLORENCE, Ala. — The sound of a train whistle echoed through the tree-lined railroad tracks Wednesday morning. That signaled Norfolk-Southern crews and contractors to stop work for a few minutes as the train approached.
The churning of the engine and box cars along the new track grew louder as the engineer slowly guided it along the Sixth Street intersection.
Once it passed, work on the tracks resumed. Workers have been moving at a feverish pace to repair the tracks since early Tuesday afternoon, when seven train cars derailed.
Wednesday morning’s sight of trains passing smoothly along the tracks contrasted Tuesday’s scene of train cars lying on their sides, ahead of its aftermath – a crumbled and flattened railway.
Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay said trains began crossing the tracks by 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.
By 11 a.m., 16 trains had crossed, which helped free rail traffic along other lines.
Afterward, the local line was shut down while workers rerailed the six cars and rear locomotive. Terpay said they were planning to have everything rerailed and moved to the Sheffield rail yard by midnight Wednesday.
She said 700 feet of new track was rebuilt. In addition, workers laid 500 feet of prefabricated track panels.
The prefabricated portion includes permanent and temporary jointed rail sections, she said. Crews will return later to lay permanent welded tracks.
Railroad officials still do not know what caused the accident. “It is still under investigation,” Terpay said.
A conductor and an engineer were aboard the train, but nobody was injured, Terpay said.
Colbert County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Gary Cosby said the Sixth Street intersection was expected to be reopened Wednesday night.
Part of the street alongside the tracks was churned up during the derailment.
Cosby said a private contractor and the street department were making repairs.
They also will make sure the train signal at the intersection operates properly before opening the road for traffic.
Cosby said no environmental problems occurred. About 30-50 gallons of diesel fuel spilled, but members of the county’s hazardous materials team stopped the leak.
Cosby said it is impressive to see the work progress so quickly. The derailment is expected to just be a memory for motorists along Sixth Street by the time they take to the road today.
“Everything should be pretty much taken care of by the morning,” Cosby said.