Like ‘the Titanic hitting the iceberg.’ Kentucky rock slide derails coal train.
An enormous boulder slid off a mountain, rolled onto Kentucky Highway 2007 and derailed a train hauling coal early Thursday morning in Harlan County.
There were no injuries reported, which Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley called “an early Christmas miracle.”
Mosley compared the Wallins Creek rock slide to the “mountain version of the Titanic hitting the iceberg.”
“I’ve never seen a rock that large fall,” Mosley said.
According to a CSX statement, two locomotives and eight loaded coal cars derailed at about 2:09 a.m. due to a rock slide. It is unknown when the rock slide occurred. The Wallins Creek tracks run near the Cumberland River.
The rock fell onto the highway and rolled onto the train tracks. The train’s engineer saw the rock on the track and tried to slow. Neither of the two engineers were injured. A tree fell on a nearby home as a result of the slide but no one was home.
Highway 2007 is a rural road connecting Wallins Creek to Coldiron. Mosley said it’s an important road to the towns’ residents and was thankful a school bus or a car wasn’t traveling on it during the rock slide.
Department of Highways spokesman Les Dixon said the road would be closed for up to a month and drivers would need take KY 219 and KY 3467 as alternative routes.
Crews worked Thursday to move debris off of the road. Mosley said they are looking to stabilize the mountain to prevent other rock slides from happening.
CSX is working to remove the train. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is removing rocks from the roadway and constructing an access to remove remaining overhanging boulders to stabilize the rock wall. They plan to work through the night.
Mosley said mudslides are not uncommon in the county, especially as the weather fluctuates causing thawing and refreezing on the mountain.
“Anything that is cracked and fractured could take off,” Mosley said.
In February, a large rock slide in Draffin caused a train to derail into the Big Sandy River in Pike County. Two crew members were briefly trapped in the fiery CSX train along the river’s edge. Chemicals also leaked into the river.
There were no apparent leaks or impacts to the waterways in Harlan Creek, according to CSX.