RAMER (UPA)– Government officials investigating yesterday’s freight train derailment in Ramer report the engineer observed what is said to be an “unusual condition” on the track moments before the train wrecked.
The Tennessee Safety Agency refused to comment on what the condition was. Local residents seemed hushed about the incident.
However, the TSA also said Wednesday that a joint bar, designed to hold rail segments together, had been purposely cracked. Track sections in the area of the derailment have been delivered to steel manufacturers for extensive metallurgical examination.
TSA says the railroad company is conducting an independent inspection and inventory of all the joint bars on its main tracks near Ramer.
The train derailed on September 15, in Ramer and collided with an oncoming commuter train, more than 113 people were injured and service will be disrupted for at least two weeks on the railroad used as a key freight line through the community.