MOUNT CARBON, W.Va. — Investigators with the Federal Railroad Administration may begin their on-site assessment as early as Wednesday morning at the train derailment site in Fayette County.
FRA Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg and the agency’s chief safety officer, Robert Lauby, arrived in Montgomery Tuesday evening joining the efforts of six FRA investigators who arrived earlier. The site of the approximately two dozen derailed oil tankers was still smoldering Tuesday evening.
West Virginia Third District Congressman Evan Jenkins toured the derailment site Tuesday joining U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Jenkins met with the resident who ran for his life and the train slammed into his house.
“I sat there and looked at his house and there is no house,” Jenkins told MetroNews. “His truck in his front yard is burned out. The house is gone, you see a foundation.”
The congressman said he felt a lot better about the aftermath of the derailment after receiving a briefing.
“My sense is we are moving in the right direction. It was a tragic event and it never should have happened. Those who have been displaced and those concerned about environmental impact–it seems all hands on deck,” he said.
The congressman also said he’s hopeful the evacuation order can be lifted as soon as possible.
“While there are people are going to be inconvenienced certainly for this next day or two it does not seem to be a long protracted concern for multiple days,” he said.
Rep. Jenkins said he’s thankful the situation wasn’t worse.
“The scenarios are pretty scary to think about–the what if’s,” Jenkins said. “If the train would have probably gone another 100 yards up it was in the neighborhood where you had dozens and dozens of houses. If it would have derailed a few miles earlier that was downtown Montgomery.”
There were several developments in the aftermath the derailment Tuesday:
–West Virginia American Water Company reopened its Montgomery water plant intake Tuesday afternoon after three tests showed there was no crude oil contamination in the Kanawha River.
–CSX was working with residents who are still under the evacuation order to get them hotel rooms instead of sleeping in shelters.
–Gov. Tomblin said earlier in the day 19 of the 26 cars that derailed burned at the site. He said none of the tanker cars plunged into the Kanawha River.
–Appalachian Power Company expected to get all power service restored to the Adena Village, Mount Carbon communities by Tuesday night.
–WVU Tech announced it was cancelling classes for the rest of the week.