City tallying up tab for train derail repair

NASHUA – Now that the coal has been scooped up, the rail repaired and the pavement patched together, city staff is working to tabulate the bill.

The city is calculating how much a train derailment this week cost in terms of manpower, materials, vehicle use, gasoline and other factors, Mayor Donnalee Lozeau said Thursday.

Once the price tag is established, the city’s risk management department will seek reimbursement from the insurance company that represents railroad owner Pan Am, Lozeau said.

The derailment taxed the nerves of commuters from when it happened, at about 11 a.m. Tuesday until Bridge Street was fully opened to both lanes of traffic by the Thursday morning commute.

A total of seven cars near the back of an 87-car train derailed. Three of the cars toppled completely, spilling some 300 tons of coal.

The incident closed down a section of Bridge Street near the Nashua Farmers’ Exchange.

There were no injuries and no hazardous materials were aboard the train, but the accident put a deep gouge in Bridge Street, a major east-west commuter route near the north bridge over the Merrimack River.

Pan Am officials said they were investigating the cause. A preliminary investigation showed that one of the “truck sides” – wheel assemblies containing axles, springs and other suspension equipment – had fallen off one of the cars, causing a chain reaction among several subsequent cars, Pan Am President David Fink said Tuesday.

On Thursday morning, a resident reported that a short freight train of about 15 cars passed extremely slowly over the section of track where the train had derailed.

The train carried telephone poles, structural composite wood beams, non-hazardous tanker cars and box cars while railroad personnel appeared to be observing the condition of repaired rails, the witness said.

Railroad workers remained in the area throughout the day Thursday.

Patrick Meighan can be reached at 594-6518 or pmeighan@nashuatelegraph.com.