Railway crews worked throughout Wednesday to clear a five-car train derailment along Oldfield Road in Sylacauga. An Eastern Alabama Railway spokesperson said an investigation to determine the cause of the incident that occurred Tuesday afternoon is ongoing.
Hazardous materials were not involved, and there were no injuries with the derailment.
Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services, Inc. owns Eastern Alabama Railway.
“We are moving as quickly but safely as possible to clear the scene and ask for everyone’s patience – as well as their cooperation to avoid the scene so contractors can focus on the job,” said Tom Ciuba, Vice President of Communications for Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services, Inc.
Ciuba said investigations into the cause of derailments typically go until the scene is cleared in case any helpful information is hidden by derailed cars.
The Federal Railroad Administration is aware of the incident but won’t be investigating because the derailment doesn’t meet certain criteria. However, Eastern Alabama Railway must submit an accident report to the FRA 30 days after the end of May. The report will be posted on the FRA’s Safety Data website in three months.
According to the FRA’s website, between 2021 and 2025, there were 10 accident reports from Talladega County. Seven were from Eastern Alabama. One was from Norfolk Southern. Two involved CSX. Of the 10, nine were derailments.
The derailment along Oldfield Road happened around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. It led to the entrance used to access the main building of Indian Valley Elementary School being blocked by railcars that were not derailed.
There were 80 students and 20 staff members at the school for the district’s Bridges program, which provides enrichment activities for children during the summer. Staff drove their vehicles through the grass to reach another parking area and use a second exit.
Sylacauga City Schools Chief Finance Officer Tom Osborne said there are now discussions about connecting the two parking lots.
“It is an opportunity for us to reflect on really what our long-term vision is so that if we ever have an emergency situation, that we have a better plan than what we ran into yesterday,” Osborne said. “We can’t put ourselves in this position. If this would have happened two weeks ago, it could have been a different story. We would have had buses that needed to pick up kids. The rerouting would have been a little more cumbersome. In education, we come to expect the unexpected. We kind of rolled with it yesterday. We got everyone’s vehicle to safety and allowed them to go home. We used our communication tool that we use with parents and allowed them to communicate that everyone needed to be picked up at the back entrance.”
The entrance on Oldfield Road, which leads to the main building of the school, remained blocked on Wednesday.
