(The following article by Vianna Davila was posted on the San Antonio Express-News website on April 6.)
SAN ANTONIO — Four Union Pacific railroad cars jumped the track Wednesday night in Guadalupe County, temporarily closing FM 78.
The train the cars were part of was traveling on a spur track, off the main line, when they derailed around 8 p.m. east of McQueeney, 3 miles west of Seguin.
No injuries were reported, said Wayman Krueger, the county’s emergency management coordinator.
The cause of the derailment is under investigation, said UP spokesman Mark Davis.
One train car landed on FM 78. All four cars were still standing after the derailment, Krueger said.
One lane of the road was open on and off for about an hour but was eventually closed for cleanup. Traffic was diverted to side roads.
Workers hoped to reopen both lanes of FM 78 by 2 or 3 a.m. today, Krueger said.
The train was local, Davis said. “This type of train just serves the industries right there in the Seguin area,” he said.
The cars apparently carried a gypsum product and may have been on their way to a manufacturing plant in McQueeney, Krueger said.
The train was only a few hundred feet from the plant