A train is seen derailed Sunday morning on a Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern rail line, near the intersection of Bredeick and Bank streets in Delphos. No injuries were reported, and the rail cars were empty.
Photo courtesy of of Elite Drone Services LLC
DELPHOS — An overnight train derailment Sunday in Delphos left just over 100 households without power but did not result in any injuries or spills.
According to the Delphos Police Department, a train derailed just before midnight on a Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern rail line near the intersection of Bredeick and Bank streets. The derailed cars broke a power pole near that intersection, leaving 103 AEP Ohio customers without power, according to the utility company’s website.
Crews from AEP Ohio were on site at 1:02 a.m. and remained throughout the day Sunday, installing a support beam to help brace the damaged power pole. As of Sunday afternoon, AEP Ohio estimated power to be restored by 10 p.m. Sunday.
While the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine caused significant chemical spills and air pollution due to controlled burns at the site, those scenes were not replicated in Delphos, as the derailed cars were empty grain cars, according to Delphos police.
“We were not called in to assist,” Allen County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency Director Tom Berger said.
Aerial photography of the derailment showed wheelsets broken off the frame of one of the derailed train cars. There was no word of a cause for the derailment given by the rail line, which has investigators looking into the events leading up to the accident, according to Delphos Police.
Tom Ciuba, vice president of communications for Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services, the parent company for Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern Railroad, issued a statement Monday saying the investigation into the cause of the derailment is ongoing.
“In the early hours of yesterday morning, a Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern Railroad (CFE) train derailed five railcars in Delphos, Ohio,” he said in the statement. “There were no injuries and all railcars remained upright. The railcars were not carrying hazardous materials. An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway by our team and can take a few days to determine.”
