(Charleston television station ABCNews4 posted the following story on its website on January 25.)
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The train derailment that caused more than a dozen cars to topple, some carrying sensitive military equipment, has been cleaned up.
The derailment happened around 7:15 pm on Thursday night. Officials worked all day Friday and through the night assessing and cleaning up the accident.
A CSX spokesperson said the military cargo on board, which was enroute to the Naval Weapons Station, has been safely delivered to the military site in Hanahan.
CSX also said all cargo trains and Amtrak trains are back on schedule, after having routes delayed or rerouted the day before.
No injuries were reported during the accident or clean-up.
Some local emergency officials accuse CSX of being slow in notifying agencies of the derailment.
Charleston County Emergency Services Director Don Lundy said, “I think it’s a serious concern just in that we were in the game late. I think a lot of people got in the game late and CSX will hopefully improve that somewhat.”
CSX spokesperson Jane Covington said, “It’s a process of assessing and notifying at the same time. It takes some initial time to assess what happened.”
CSX says it plans to meet with the head of the State Law Enforcement Division to address concerns about the railroad company’s timeliness in notifying emergency response agencies of derailment.