(The following story by Lucinda Coulter appeared on the Tuscaloosa News website on May 4.)
MYRTLEWOOD, Ala. — More than 50 federal, state and railroad representatives gathered in the swampy marshland Thursday to begin an investigation into why a railroad trestle deemed safe hours earlier buckled under the weight of a train carrying body segments for two space shuttle rocket boosters.
A day after the wreck which injured six crew members, who remain unidentified, officials from NASA, the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad and the R.J. Corman Railroad Group and the state were at work. Teams began assessing the cleanup effort where the train derailed, roughly one mile east of Alabama Highway 114 and three miles east of the Tombigbee Waterway in Marengo County.
Federal Railroad Administration inspectors had no indication of a cause, but the investigation into why the trestle collapsed is ongoing, said Warren Flatau, FRA spokesman.
FRA will inspect the track and interview railroad workers, he said.
“We are hopeful we will be able to determine at the end of that process the cause of that event and any contributing factors,” Flatau said.