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Derailment cleared, lessons learned
07/01/09 - 12:38 PM

By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER, Floridan Staff Writer

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Cottondale Police Chief William Watford and other law enforcement officials managed traffic until around 11 p.m. Tuesday night after two cars on a slow-moving train derailed and blocked U.S. Highway 231.

The cars, hauling chicken feed, derailed near a switch point just after 7 p.m. on a secondary track. The train on the CSX track was attempting to maneuver onto the Bayline track when the incident occurred roughly 150 yards north of the U.S. 231 and U.S. Highway 90 intersection, according to Watford.

CSX did not immediately return calls placed Wednesday seeking information about what may have caused the problem.

The derailment was minor, with no rail cars damaged or overturned, and no materials spilling from them.

Last week, U.S. 231 and two local roads in Cottondale were blocked approximately 40 minutes after a mechanical problem shut down a train with 150 cars. Zion and West streets were the two local roads blocked in that incident.

In both cases, traffic was routed south of the track eastward to U.S. 90, and traffic north of the track was sent to   State Road 73.

Watford said everything went smoothly in the aftermath of both problems. He felt fortunate that neither occurred on the weekend or during other times with exceptionally heavy traffic.

“The biggest problem Tuesday is that it blocked U.S. 231,” Watford said. “We were fortunate that it was only going two or three miles an hour, that it didn’t happen on the weekend when more people are coming down this way, and that there were no hazardous materials involved,” he said.

Cottondale officials have learned something from the two latest incidents.

“It did become clear in this that we (the city) don’t have enough equipment,” Watford said Wednesday. ”I would have been nice to have more barricades and cones of our own. We had to get some from DOT, but I’d say that was the only other thing that was of a big concern. I appreciate all the assistance from all the agencies involved, and we’re feeling pretty relieved today.”

The Florida Highway Patrol, the state Department of Transportation, Cottondale Volunteer Fire Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Fire-Rescue and the Jackson County Emergency Management team assisted, he said.

CSX was able to get the cars moved around 11 p.m. Tuesday and will have to replace the secondary track heavily damaged in the incident, according to Jackson County Emergency Management Director Rodney Andreasen.

Watford said he’d like to see every home in Cottondale outfitted with an emergency radio that would alert households when a potentially dangerous situation exists on the tracks or elsewhere in town.

In the past, city officials have also expressed a desire for a warning system which would sound an alarm across town in the event of a rail or other emergency.

Andreasen checked on that possibility some time ago, but learned that it would cost upwards of $600,000. He agreed with Watford that radios in every household would be a more practical approach.