BRADENTON, Fla. — After a delicate operation using heavy machinery, the derailed train car carrying 30,000 gallons of liquid propane gas in Manatee County is back on the track.
On Tuesday, six cars fully derailed from a Seminole Gulf Railway train in Bradenton. While five carried sheetrock, one was filled with liquid propane.
Manatee County Fire and Rescue cleared the surrounding area from 7-8 p.m. on Thursday, including shutting down a nearby roadway, while crews worked to upright the train car. Crews stayed on the scene to monitor the process during and after as well.
"It was a very well-planned event and all of the players worked in concert with each other and we were able to accomplish the task without any injury or harm to the environment," Manatee Fire and Rescue Chief Robert Bounds said.
Meanwhile, the vice president of Seminole Gulf Railway shared new insight into what may have caused these cars to go off the tracks.
"At the end of the day, it was a track-related matter," Vice President Robert Fay said. "There was something that was going on with the track that caused the back wheels to come off of one of the cars and that then started a chain reaction."
"It had nothing to do with the rail cars themselves," Fay said. "It had nothing to do with wheels. It had nothing to do with anything like what transpired in Ohio."
Despite acknowledging problems with the track, Fay said Seminole Gulf Railways are safe and routinely inspected.
"They are perfectly safe and the federal government says we are because they wouldn't allow us to operate otherwise, and they inspect us, as well," Fay said.
Fay said the specifics of what caused the derailment are still unclear. The incident remains under investigation by both Seminole Gulf Railway and the Federal Railroad Administration.