(The Orlando Sentinel posted the following article on its website on September 16.)
SANFORD, Fla. — The first of two special relief trains carrying diesel and gasoline for emergency responders arrived in Florida on Wednesday. The 20-car train was the last to travel CSX Transportation’s Interstate 10 corridor from New Orleans to Jacksonville before the line was closed in anticipation of Hurricane Ivan’s landfall.
A second, 24-car train was traveling a longer route through Memphis and was expected to arrive in Florida on Friday.
Half of the tank cars from each train are being delivered to Sanford and the other half to Tampa, said railroad spokesman Adam Hollingsworth.
The relief trains were a joint effort of CSX and Union Pacific. CSX did not charge for the delivery at an estimated value of $300,000.
Forty of the tank cars were filled with a total of about 1.1 million gallons of diesel and the other four carried a total of about 114,000 gallons of gasoline.
The fuel shipments were requested by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state to ease shortages created by Hurricanes Frances. The diesel fuel will be used for emergency generators at hospitals and in fire and rescue vehicles. The gasoline will be used in police cars.