(The following story by Prentiss Findlay appeared on the Post and Courier website on April 11.)
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Federal Railroad Administration and CSX Transportation have launched an investigation into the structural safety of the CSX railroad bridge near Ravenel in response to the concerns of a nearby resident.
An inspector from the railroad administration and a CSX official visited the bridge in the past few days to take a look. The railroad administration is preparing a report that will be available in a few weeks, spokesman Warren Flatau said.
“Even though they went out and did field work, they’re still waiting for some things,” Flatau said. “These inspections are not simple.”
The condition of the bridge poses no imminent danger, officials said.
“If they took any serious exception to conditions or felt there was any imminent hazard, we have all the authority that we need to remove a bridge from service,” Flatau said.
The bridge is where the Wallace River and Rantowles Creek meet to flow into the Stono River.
Ravenel resident Patrick Frazier expressed concern about the condition of the bridge on the Stono River side, where crumbled concrete exposes long rods of rusty steel. He said he fears a chemical spill or nuclear waste or weapons being dumped into the tidal waters from a derailment. Frazier said a federal bridge inspector contacted him in response to his concerns. The railroad administration would not allow a Post and Courier reporter to accompany the inspector during his visit to the bridge.
Flatau said the bridge was overbuilt to handle heavier steam locomotives. Flatau said it was his understanding that the bridge was originally built with two tracks, but the track on the Stono River side of the bridge has been closed. Flatau said he was not sure how long the rail had been closed. CSX has said the bridge is safe, and that rail traffic would not be permitted otherwise.
The Ravenel rail bridge is part of a main route for freight trains and Amtrak. Its traffic has included a rail car carrying ammonium hydroxide that leaked in Hartsville, killing a man in 2003, Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod said.
The Federal Railroad Administration, which governs the rail industry, said in a report last week that four instances of hazardous materials-handling violations in South Carolina were uncovered during four days of “focused inspection” of CSX operations in January. More information on those incidents was not available, but officials said none of them happened in the Lowcountry.
Last year South Carolina had 125 train accidents or incidents that resulted in 21 deaths, including highway and rail accidents, according to the railroad administration.