Crews working on cleanup plan after Ayer train derailment
AYER - A freight train derailed in Ayer late Thursday morning.
It happened near Sculley Road. Five rail cars carrying 10 containers went off the tracks. The train was stopped on the tracks when it derailed.
No injuries were reported, according to CSX, which owns the train. The company said the railroad cars were carrying trash. The fire department said the cars involved were not carrying hazardous materials.
"Just before noon today, a freight train operated by Springfield Terminals derailed five rail cars carrying ten intermodal containers holding solid waste on the Pan Am Southern rail line in Ayer, MA. There were no reported injuries to the crew, no hazardous materials involved, no leaks or spills of any freight and no impacts to the environment," CSX said in the statement.
"CSX personnel are responding as the incident occurred on a line jointly owned with Norfolk Southern. We are working closely with local first responders to assess the situation and develop a recovery plan. The cause of the incident is under investigation."
The incident is not having an effect on Commuter Rail service, operator Keolis said.
It's not clear yet what caused the derailment.
The Ayer Fire Department said containment booms were deployed in the nearby waterway as a precaution.
"The area may see heavier than normal traffic during the railroad's operation. Please avoid the area if possible," firefighters said.
John Olson lives less than a mile away from where the train derailed.
"I saw the WBZ Twitter page, saw what happened on Sculley Road and thought I should come back and check on the family," Olson said.
When Olson saw a train had derailed, he feared the worst.
"Was it going to be something like Ohio where we are going to have to leave the neighborhood for an extended period?" Olson remembers as his first reaction. Fortunately that wasn't the case.
Several tracks run close by the area, including those that run the Commuter Rail line from Leominster and Fitchburg. The Ayer Fire Department said the tracks were initially shut down, but later reopened.
Brian Norstrom has lived in the area for 50 years. "This is the third derailment since I've lived here," Norstrom said.
Neighbors say they've been uneasy about the look of the tracks for years.
"If you look down the length of it, the individual iron lengths are kind of warped and sort of sagging on one side, and we have noticed trans, the big load trains, they rock unusually," said John Ford.
Railway safety expert Carl Berkowitz told WBZ-TV train derailments keep happening across the country because the tracks have been neglected.
"A lot of money was spent on positive train control," he said. "That only deals with trains not hitting each other. It controls the speed of the trains on the track."
"We haven't spent money on upgrading the infrastructure."
