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Train Derailment

photo by Mike Cameron Middlebury Firefighters respond to an 18 car train derailment off So. Pleasant Street on Wednesday afternoon, October 22, 2007. Some of the rail cars contained gasoline and fuel. Middlebury's downtown area was closed overnight and businesses near the accident site reopened the next day after police and fire officials declared the area secure once again. A week long recovery operation using heavy equipment repaired the tracks and restored the train's cars to their original places on the rails. Local police and firefighters are being applauded for their swift and efficient management of the mishap. The transportation corridor was expected to be open for rail traffic by weeks-end.

Tuesday October 30, 2007

By Mike Cameron

    The investigation into last weeks train derailment in Middlebury continues.  The Monday afternoon incident 10-23-07 forced the evacuation of 30 downtown streets sending scores of residents and business employees to more safe locations away from the accident scene.  Area schools were also closed shortly after the accident as a further precaution.

   At approximately 2 p.m. a north bound Vermont Railways freight train left the tracks along the rail line just off So. Pleasant Street in the village.  Eighteen cars derailed, fourteen of the cars were tankers and each tanker  was capable of carrying 20,000 gallons of gasoline.  Some  reportedly contained fuel oil according to authorities at the scene.

   Rapid response by local Middlebury fire crews quickly extinguished fires on some of the tankers involved within minutes of the accident.

   An evacuation was ordered and police and other local officials notified residents and business in the danger zone.    

   State Hazardous Materials Crews reported to the scene to secure fuel leaching from one or more of the wrecked cars into nearby Otter Creek.  It was  later reported that their efforts were successful and that very little fuel reached the river. A flotation boom was erected at the waters edge below the derailed cars.

   Fire crews responded from nearby towns to be ready in a moments notice  if needed or to assist if the situation had escalated further.

   Police and fire officials kept watch over night as  Downtown Middlebury remained empty for most of the night and into the  early morning hours of the following day.

   Eighteen wheel tank trucks and crews could be seen off-loading fuel from the stricken  railroad tank cars on Wednesday morning and businesses along Main Street were reopened.  

   The streets immediately adjacent to the accident scene were still cordoned off to give personnel nearest to the derailed cars unrestricted access.

   No injuries were reported in what could have been a major disaster in a small quiet Vermont town in the middle of the Foliage Season.

   Railroad officials were waiting for the arrival of heavy equipment to right the derailed freight cars on Wednesday.

   Along with the 14 tankers, the train also was pulling four cars carrying rock salt that were closest to the locomotive. The diesel disconnected from the cars and moved further north after the accident occurred.  It did not derail.

   The derailment reportedly was a chain reaction from near the second car back according to eye-witnesses at the scene of the accident shortly after it occurred.

   State Transportation Officials have stated that they believe a length of rail,   gave way and caused the cars to slide off the track.

   A crew of heavy equipment specialists from Pennsylvania were dispatched to Middlebury to re-track the derailed cars.  They were hard at work on Wednesday and the rail corridor was expected to be open for  regular train traffic by weeks-end.

  Townspeople have given collective a sigh of relief and are thankful and grateful that their public officials did an outstanding job to protect them and their property after what could have been an horrific disaster.

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