Routine police routes by a patrolman of the Tyrone Police Department found a three foot section of track missing at the Tyrone-Palmetto Road railroad crossing at about noon on Tuesday, March 25, according to Lieutenant Philip Nelson, Public Information Officer with the Tyrone Police Department. He called it into his dispatch, who told CSX about it.

Four hours later, in spite of letting CSX know of the danger, a train derailed, taking six cars with it. Lt. Nelson said it could be as many as two weeks before the crossing is back up and running again, but CSX indicated a much shorter timeline.

Here’s the story in Lt. Nelson’s words. “While on routine patrol, they noticed there was a piece of the railroad section in the roadway by Tyrone Road and the railroad crossing and it appeared that it had been damaged by a low boy trailer. That’s what we assume. And it broke off about a three foot section of the railroad rail. So [the officer] shut down the road on both sides and he had our dispatch contact CSX. He told dispatch to let them know we need to stop all trains coming through here until they get somebody to come down and check it out. And then he contacted our public works and they came out and put some cones around the piece of metal.”

A source in Tyrone showed The Citizen a photo of the damaged track before the derailment occurred and it was an obvious problem, that looked like it had been caused by a low vehicle, like Nelson mentioned.

With cones around the piece of railway metal to prevent vehicle damage, the crossing remained open to through traffic, at that point. “ There was no danger to any vehicles going back and forth as far as what we were concerned,” said Lt. Nelson.

Once Lt. Nelson was notified of the train derailment at about 4 p.m., they made contact with CSX to confirm that the train contained no hazardous materials. And they also checked for injuries, and shut the roadway down, so that CSX could get in and begin repairs and removal of the derailed train.

CSX Spokesperson Austin Staton confirmed that they were warned four hours in advance. He shared, “Every day we work with law enforcement and emergency response personnel throughout our extensive network and have good communication with matters like this. Our team is conducting a thorough investigation of the incident to implement improved measures to ensure this does not happen again.”

He continued, “We’ve spoken with Mayor Dial, and we’re committed to working with the City of Tyrone as our investigation continues. We’re grateful for the first responders who quickly reported to the scene following the incident, and we’re thankful that there were no injuries.”

Staton said, “As of this morning, the track is open to freight rail. Our crews continue to work as safely and quickly as possible to complete the repair work on the crossing. In terms of a timeline, we’re currently targeting tomorrow evening.”

“We appreciate the public’s patience while we complete this work, which is critical to ensuring the safety of motorists using this crossing, and a safe, reliable freight rail network,” said Staton.

How common is a train derailment? Staton indicated that statistics said they happen across the country as often as three times a day, but that it includes incidences that happen within railway stations and depots that are more common.