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Train derails; bridge out at Marietta
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Special report:CSX train wreck: Railroad offers few answers <br /> <br /> <br />By Justin McIntosh, jmcintosh@mariettatimes.com <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MITCH CASEY The Marietta Times <br /> <br />Ted Barth of Marietta looks over twisted rails and damaged cars Monday morning in the wake of a train derailment at the Virginia Street overpass overnight. Eight cars — all carrying coal — jumped the track. <br />An inspection five months ago on the Marietta railroad bridge that collapsed early Monday sending coal cars tumbling onto Virginia Street showed no problems with the bridge, said an official with CSX. <br /> <br />The lack of problems with the bridge from yearly inspections is clouding the investigation into why the bridge failed as a train loaded with coal passed on it. Few answers as to why it happened were available from the company on Monday. <br /> <br />The company is investigating the wreck, but said it was too soon to determine a cause. No one was hurt in the crash. The track, operating procedures and train will all have to be inspected before a cause can be determined, which could take a few weeks, CSX officials said <br /> <br />Meanwhile, work on cleaning up Virginia Street, which runs underneath the bridge and was closed to traffic Monday, proceeded rapidly, with traffic expected to return today, said Kim Skorniak, CSX spokeswoman. Also, a temporary bridge for rail traffic is expected to be built within a week or two. <br /> <br />The main question facing CSX, and possibly state and federal railroad officials, who may all investigate the wreck, is whether the train jumped off the tracks, causing the bridge to collapse, or whether the train was derailed because the bridge collapsed. <br /> <br />Yearly inspections, the last of which occurred on July 6, have not shown any reason to suspect the bridge was dangerous, Skorniak said, but records on railroad accidents from the Federal Railroad Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, indicate rail car derailments are not at all uncommon. <br /> <br />According to the records, more than 4,300 derailments have occurred in Ohio since 1975, while there have been 28 derailments in Washington County during that same time period. In the last 12 years, CSX has had 365 derailments in Ohio. <br /> <br />Steve Kulm, spokesman with the railroad administration, said records show a significant number of derailments because they can be as minor as one rail coming off the track or as severe as the loss of life. Prior to Monday’s wreck, the costliest derailment in the county caused just under $30,000 in damage. <br /> <br />“Derailments can be caused by a variety of things, like a collision between trains and, in some cases, speeding trains taking a curve too fast,” Kulm said. “I’ve even heard, a number of years ago, there was a standing derailment where the train was not moving, just sitting there, and the tracks gave way under the weight.” <br /> <br />Since most railroad companies are privately owned, inspections on rail bridges, tracks and equipment are typically left up to their owners, Kulm said. It also means local law enforcement authorities likely will not be performing an investigation into the accident, though state and federal railroad officials may begin their own examination of what led to the wreck. <br /> <br />The railroad administration’s reports are generated from reports sent to the administration by the railroad companies. Kulm said the railroad administration uses the reports for audits to check on whether the companies are performing their inspections correctly. <br /> <br />“If there’s a derailment involved in this case, we’ll see if there’s a derailment,” Kulm said. There are some guidelines out there the railroad administration will use to determine the cause, Kulm added. <br /> <br />Some area citizens, however, are questioning if relying on inspections by the railroad company is reliable. <br /> <br />Bill VanWey, 66, of 701 Virginia St., Marietta, has lived next to the Virginia Street bridge his entire life and said he always trusted engineers to determine if the bridge was stable, but he was not surprised it fell since the bridge was 70 years old. <br /> <br />“That bridge has been here all my life,” VanWey said. “I never thought about it holding up. They (railroad companies) ought to have known whether it would hold up.” <br /> <br />Others are thankful that the accident did not cause injury to the anyone in the neighborhood or drivers underneath the bridge. <br /> <br />“This could have involved some really toxic chemicals. ... This is a city of bridges. I feel they should inspect the bridges more often. There is no reason for this to occur,” said Randall Kidder, 51, of 313 Ingleside Ave., Marietta. <br /> <br />Local inspections are not done on the bridge, mostly because it’s the responsibility of the owner of the rail bridge and tracks. But state law requires the Washington County engineer’s office to visually inspect the rail bridge for potential hazards to passing motorists, like falling pieces of equipment. <br /> <br />Washington County Engineer Bob Badger said the inspections haven’t been done and even if they were it’s doubtful they would have prevented the accident because the surveys were not for structural issues. <br /> <br />Badger said he was not even aware his office was supposed to be inspecting railroad bridges for potential hazards to traffic until he looked it up after hearing of the derailment. <br /> <br />“In all the years I’ve been here, and I did two years with the county in ‘79 and ‘80, they weren’t being inspected,” Badger said. <br /> <br />The stretch of Virginia Street where collapsed bridge fell is a county road just outside the city limits. Badger said the roadway was damaged, and that would need to be repaired at CSX’s expense before it would be re-opened despite what the railroad has reported. <br /> <br />The accident occurred when eight of the 90 CSX rail cars toppled over the rail bridge above a section of Virginia Street near Ohio 7 around 2 a.m., Monday. No one was injured, but the bridge did collapse and coal from the rail cars spilled out onto the street; traffic was rerouted around the scene of the accident. The coal-filled rail cars were making a delivery to AEP’s Muskingum River Plant near Beverly. <br /> <br />Normally, one train travels along the bridge in each direction daily, Skorniak said. In addition to making deliveries to AEP, CSX also makes some deliveries to the Globe Metallurgical plant near the AEP plant. Officials with Globe were unable to say Monday how the train wreck will impact their business, though an AEP spokesperson said the company has enough coal in stock to last until a temporary bridge is built. <br /> <br />“(CSX) would be responsible for any losses we had,” said Melissa McHenry, AEP spokeswoman. <br /> <br />Skorniak said most of the spilled coal was salvageable, though she did not know how much was spilled onto the roadway. Each of the 90 rail cars carried about 100 to 110 tons of coal. <br /> <br />Kevin Pierson contributed. <br /> <br />
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