Tracks open after train derailment

By early Sunday morning a train derailment in an Augusta neighborhood had been cleaned up and the tracks were reopened, said CSX spokesman Dan Murphy.

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The train went off the tracks Saturday afternoon when the engineer pulled the emergency brake to keep from hitting a man who was walking on the tracks.

The man was wearing earphones to listen to music and apparently did not hear the train, Mr. Murphy said.

By 2:10 a.m. Sunday, the damaged cars had been lifted from the tracks, he said. CSX contractors used industrial cranes to remove the damaged parts. The train had 15 cars.

The derailed train was traveling from Jacksonville, Fla., to Memphis, Tenn., and was hauling electronics and clothing, Mr. Murphy said. CSX is the only railroad company that uses the tracks, he said.

After the cleanup, parts of Poplar, Holly and Linden streets were damaged and a railroad warning sign was flattened.

Mr. Murphy said CSX workers would return by today, "if not sooner," to repair the streets and the sign.

Although Mr. Murphy called the accident "a minor problem" because the trains didn't contain hazardous materials and no injuries were reported, some residents living near the accident scene felt differently.

"We're lucky it didn't have any chemicals or things like that," said electrician LaVelle Hall, 38, who lives on Holly Street about 200 feet from the wreck site.

In 2002, Jacksonville-based CSX moved 445,000 loads of hazardous materials with fewer than 20 leaks, Mr. Murphy said.

Reach Timothy Cox at (706) 823-3217 or tim.cox@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Monday, June 23, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle