Special to The News and Sentinel
WATERFORD-Both lanes of Ohio 339 were closed to traffic for several hours Tuesday night after 15 fully loaded CSX coal cars derailed at a Waterford rail crossing.
The derailment occurred around 5:30 p.m., according to Lt. Mary Pfeifer, commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Marietta post.
"No one was injured and none of the cars overturned, and there were no hazardous materials involved," she said. "The cars were loaded with coal headed for (American Electric Power's Muskingum River plant)."
Pfeifer said the main concern Tuesday evening was keeping unnecessary traffic out of the area until Ohio 339 could be reopened.
Local passenger vehicles were detoured around the Ohio 339 railroad crossing via Main Street in Waterford, but Pfeifer said tractor-trailer rigs and other larger vehicles on 339 would have to either turn around or wait until the rail crossing could be cleared.
The state route was still closed at 10 p.m. Tuesday awaiting CSX equipment that had to be brought in from Huntington to move the cars from the tracks.
The derailed cars appeared to have run off the tracks at the intersection with Sunset Lane, a street with no outlet about 100 yards north of Ohio 339.
Rita Burchett, who lives on Marquis Avenue off of Sunset Lane, witnessed the derailment from her home west of the tracks.
"I could see the coal cars starting to lean over, then some of them just went off the tracks," she said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, but it's been a concern in this neighborhood for some time.
"We have a lot of older people, some with heart problems," Burchett said. "But how could an ambulance get through here?"
Her neighbor, Donna Phillips, said she can't walk far due to a heart ailment.
"Trains come through here about twice a day, and this is something we just knew would happen sooner or later," she said. "We really need some kind of other access road."
One local official said a helicopter would likely have to be used to access the neighborhood in case of a major emergency during the derailment.
Pfeifer said CSX officials would determine the cause of the derailment.
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