Train derails in Manatee County near Sarasota Bradenton airport
Hazmat crews are responding after a train came partially off the tracks in Manatee County on Tuesday morning, Manatee County Emergency Medical Services said.
The train derailed and six train cars tipped over in the 7200 block of 16th Street East in an industrial area north of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
One of the cars contains about 30,000 gallons of propane. Fire and hazmat crews are monitoring the propane car for leaks until it can be righted, Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Robert Bounds said.
Another car containing propane came off the tracks but did not tip over. The five other cars that tipped contained sheet rock, Bounds said.
Bounds said there were no injuries and there is no immediate threat to the public. The freight train, operated by Seminole Gulf Railway, was minimally staffed.
However, the crash caused significant damage to the tracks that could leave the railway line inoperable for several days, Bounds said.
“We’re at a stalemate right now,” Bounds said. “Until they get their crews here and they make a game plan about how they want to tackle this, there’s no guesstimate on how long the scene will last.”
Bounds said tankers will likely have to come in to offload the propane, and the fallen cars will have to be decoupled and moved upright.
The train was traveling south when one car derailed and caused a domino effect, Bounds said, but the cause of the derailment was unknown.
Representatives of Seminole Gulf Railway were at the scene; Florida Department of Transportation staff and state railroad officials were on the way to conduct an investigation.
“There has been a pretty significant derailment,” Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge announced during a public meeting on Tuesday. “It will be multiple days before the tracks are cleared.”
Public safety officials say there are no injuries linked to the derailment and people in the area have not been evacuated. However, crews are monitoring the air quality in the area.
A string of train derailments around the country in recent weeks have made headlines and raised concerns about train safety.
Derailments are the most common type of train accident, PolitiFact recently reported.
The U.S. averages more than 1,000 derailments a year, but they don’t often result in injuries or death, federal data show.
Bradenton Herald staff writers Ryan Callihan and Robyn Murrell contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 12:45 PM.
