OK.
We'll take your statement first, OK?
My name is Chief Waller.
We hot with the Splendora Police Department.
Basically what we have is a
train derailment that happened
this morning about 7:28 AM.
We had a southbound Union Pacific
train headed down the track.
We have 18 Wheeler attempt across the tracks.
It's a. Yield intersection
for the railroad tracks,
so there's no guard on.
The train was going southbound
and across the tracks and
was hit broadside by the.
They're trying.
Can you tell us where they tell us?
Yes, it was one white male fatality.
At this time we're still trying to
locate some family members, so OK,
we're ready to release his name.
But he was thrown from
the cab of the truck, the cab
of the truck and the train.
The 18 Wheeler was drug.
Probably 1/2 mile down the tracks.
I know you kind of explained it, but is
that the reason when they actually did?
The train track to stop.
The train, again,
it's still under investigation,
so we don't know exactly when
they applied the brakes.
We do know the 18 Wheeler
crossed in front of the train,
there's no doubt about that.
Apparently he did not see the train coming.
There's a good enough vision from
where he crossed that that he
should have seen the train coming
but obviously did not and crossed
the track and was struck broadside
by the train southbound train.
Were they hurt? No,
nobody on the train was hurt. OK.
So as far as the part number of cars
that have been derailed, can you tell
us how many cars exact cars have
roughly we have approximately
15 cars derailed.
We have hazmat on the scene.
They are monitoring air quality.
Currently we have no rail cars
leaking any hazardous material.
The only thing we're dealing with
is spilt diesel from the 18 Wheeler.
Any idea how much?
No, Sir, not at this time.
Because like I said,
it's very lengthy down the tracks
how far the 18 Wheeler was pushed.
I don't know how far or how much
fuel he had on the vehicle at this
time or to the extent of how far
down the track it was carried.
So you gotta clean up that you have
with you. Has anyone here with any
information regarding the cleanup
they have? We have Union Pacific
on the scene right now with a
lot of heavy equipment that are
attempting to ride the the train.
They're also attempting to coordinate
with Hazmat to clean up the diesel spill.
Ohh, the tracks are, as you can imagine,
in pretty bad shape.
We're probably looking at the.
15 hours at least to get mid
line open back up East and West.
We're going to attempt to get the train
separated at the point of impact,
which is also the crossing of course
the subdivision behind there that
they have no access or egress to
the subdivision as long as the
trains blocking the tracks.
So we're coordinating with Union Pacific
to get that open as quickly as we can.
We ask everybody to be understanding
because it's going to be quite a mess
out there and it's going to take
us a while to get it cleaned up.
From the 18 Wheeler and I just want
to make sure people understand,
is there any kind of concern for the
community behind that particular accident,
anything they should be aware of?
No Sir, not at all other than the impact
on traffic at this time is going to be
basically to the West side of midline is,
I mean the east side midline is
going to be impassable for probably
at least four hours, so.
If if anybody in that subdivision needs any
emergency service or something like that,
they'll have to call 911 and we'll do
whatever we have to get back there to them.
But for right now,
until we we're working as fast as
we can to get the train separated.
So that's why it's a very small subdivision,
not that many people back there.
So we just need to get the train split
where we get access egress to it.
To how people can actually get to or
how to avoid that area if they need
to get somewhere around that area.
How much of this is actually blocked off?
Right now Fostoria Rd. intersection
is totally blocked off, so
they would have to either bypass Fostoria
and take the loop around Cleveland
to get down Fostoria Rd. from 1:05.
All that had to take the bike routes,
which gets a little bit confusing
for people that don't know the area,
but there is other
ways of access and egress going down
2090 and cutting across dog collars.
But for right now, it's just we've got
too much heavy equipment, too much,
too many vehicles trying to get these
trains picked up to for to allow
everybody to pass, be too dangerous.
There's no other way to get
to midline, right? It's just.
I mean, from the northbound side,
yes, I'm sorry, from southbound side,
you can still exit midlines and get there,
but from the northbound side, no.
Can we talk about the
crossing so there are no bars?
No, there is no cross arms.
It's a yield intersection for moving
traffic that come across the the tracks.
At that point there's no flashing lights,
no guard arms, just yield signs.
It's advised this traffic
to yield to the train.
In the past, have there been any
other incidents at this cross?
Nothing recently that I I recall in
the past. Honestly, that's information
I don't know at this time.
Anything else?
About the.
We're going to be posting on our
Facebook updates so that people can go
to that and as we are able to open up
the roadway for all our local residents
will keep them updated on Facebook
and of course they can contact us,
but we're at least four hours
away from opening up.
The eastbound midline crossover over the
railroad track and that will be limited
even when we open it up to residents only.
So and we'll probably.
Just depends on how how quickly this heavy
equipment they they have brought to the
scene is able to move the railroad cars.
It's it's we've got one car right
up against the telephone pole so
we've got energy coming out to make
sure the pole is secure and safe.
Doesn't appear to be damaged but
we we do have a a very large car
tank car up against it.
So we want to make sure that's the the the.
The police say.
And how often will you will you
personally be given the media updates?
I will be on the scene,
so either myself
or Lieutenant Taylor will be given
updates to this point forward.
We're going to be at least four hours away
from another update because we're going to
wait to see how quick we're able to get
that eastbound side of midline opened up.
Another question. So the truck, you know.
He he was going eastbound on midline
so he was crossing over the track.
Going into that, that area right there,
OK, the yard wasn't there, right?
He was going to. Whatever business they had,
like there wasn't the truck yard.
No, there was no businesses at
that immediate intersection.
Again, we don't know where he was
going or what he was coming from,
but he was definitely going eastbound,
crossing over midline
at the railroad tracks and apparently
did not see the train coming.
OK. And your name?
I don't know if I got your name.
No, it's chief. Wally,
Wally and last names we Hot Wight.
Thank you chief.
Well, nobody will be working the same.
Thank you. All right. Thank you, guys.