A train derailed Sunday morning on a Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern rail line, near the intersection of Bredeick and Bank streets in Delphos, causing damage to a power pole near the track. Genesee & Wyoming, the parent company for the CF&E Railroad, determined the cause to be a mismatched rail-head on the track.
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DELPHOS — A misaligned rail was determined to be the cause of a derailment that sent five rail cars off the tracks early Sunday in Delphos, according to the railroad company.
The derailment happened just before midnight Sunday on a Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern rail line near the intersection of Bredeick and Bank streets in Delphos. The incident caused the railcars to strike a power pole near the tracks, causing more than 100 households in the vicinity to lose power for much of Sunday. The derailment also caused the wheelsets on one of the rail cars to break off.
According to Tom Ciuba, vice president of communications for Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services, the parent company for the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern Railroad, the investigation was completed early Wednesday.
“It was determined the cause was a mismatched rail-head, which can occur when a bolt becomes loose,” he said.
The rail-head is the top portion of the rail on which the wheels of the railcar rest. A mismatched rail-head occurs when two adjoining rails are not properly lined up next to each other, which could occur if a bolt fixing one of the rails in the ground becomes loose, allowing the rail to shift and causing the heads to misalign, Ciuba said. The railcar’s wheel would then slip off the rail-head, causing the car to slip off the track.
In a statement released Monday, Ciuba said that the incident resulted in no injuries, and the rail cars were empty and remained upright even after derailing. According to the Delphos Police Department, the cars that derailed were built for transporting grain.
Tom Berger, the director of the Allen County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, confirmed Sunday that his office was not called to assist at the derailment site.
