Freight train derails in northwest Ohio

FOSTORIA — A CSX freight train carrying grain, fertilizer and sulfur derailed near this northwest Ohio city, forcing a shutdown of the tracks.

The train was traveling from Chicago to Willard at about 20 mph Wednesday when it derailed. Eighteen of the 102 cars left the track.

One track of the double-track line was opened up again Wednesday night and the other was expected to be clear sometime yesterday.

The derailed cars contained grain and fertilizer. Several tank cars that did not derail contained molten sulfur, which is classified as hazardous, said Fostoria Fire Chief Russ Rife.

Toledo Express Airport kept air traffic away from the scene initially because of the possibility of hazardous materials, according to the Seneca County sheriff's log.

"Everything was contained," Rife said yesterday. "We were lucky. We dodged a bullet."

Bob Wise, who witnessed the accident, said one of the cars turned sideways and the rest piled up behind it.

The derailed cars struck some power lines, and some telephone customers lost service because ground cables were severed.

CSX brought in heavy equipment to clean up the accident and worked Wednesday night under floodlights to clean up the cars and fix mangled rails.

CSX detoured 13 or 14 trains over Norfolk-Southern lines during the cleanup, said CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan.