(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution posted the following article by Mike Morris on its website on February 10.)
ATLANTA — Howell Mill Road just south of I-75 was reopened before 8 a.m. today, about 3 hours after 10 cars of a CSX train derailed under a northwest Atlanta overpass.
CSX spokesman Craig Camuso said the 98-car train was pulling out of the Tilford rail yards when the derailment occurred about 4:40 a.m.
Ten cars derailed, with five of them overturning, Camuso said.
Three of the cars were hauling hazardous materials, but those cars were not leaking, said Atlanta Fire Department Acting Deputy Chief Gerard Rioux.
There were, however, leaks in two cars carrying a nitrogen fertilizer solution, but Rioux said they posed no health risk, and there were no evacuations.
Camuso said one of those cars dumped it’s entire load of fertilizer, and the second leak was capped after an undetermined amount of the liquid leaked out.
The nearby Atlanta Water Works were not affected by the derailment, and Camuso said there were no creeks in the immediate area. He said officials with the Environmental Protection Agency were at the site to monitor the clean-up.
The derailment occurred under the Howell Mill Road bridge, and all lanes of Howell Mill were closed between Bishop Street and Old Chattahoochee Avenue until shortly before 8 a.m.
Rioux said there was no injuries to the crew of the train, which was headed from New Orleans to North Carolina.
Clean-up crews were working late this morning to upright and remove the overturned cars and repair the tracks. Camuso said that work would likely take most of the day.