(The following appeared on the Port Clinton News Herald website on April 14.)
DANBURY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Two months after a train derailed and dumped cargo containers into the Sandusky Bay, Norfolk Southern started pulling the pieces out today.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said his company worked with the U.S. Coast Guard and Ohio Department of Natural Resources to decide how to remove the dozen empty containers.
“We’ve been anxious to remove those containers for quite some time,” he said. “We just needed to be sure they were comfortable with our plan.”
The Coast Guard’s Marblehead, Toledo and Detroit stations had no information regarding their removal. A spokeswoman at the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office in Toledo was not available for comment today.
A local contractor was expected to use a crane and barge to pull the containers from the water, Husband said.
He would not disclose the name of the contractor or how much the project cost because he Norfolk Southern has a policy against discussing that type of information.
High winds caused the train to derail from the bridge over the bay Jan. 30.