Train derails near transfer station

MIDDLETOWN — Eight railroad cars derailed early Thursday on the tracks that run by the city’s transfer station in the North End.

There were no injuries in the incident, according to Middletown Police Officer Robert Kraeger, who was at the scene Thursday morning. Authorities were called to the area near the Robert M. Keating Historical Enterprise Park, formerly Remington Rand, at 8:41 a.m., Lt. Heather Desmond said.

No hazardous materials were involved, according to Michael E. Williams, vice president of corporate communications at Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services,

which owns the Providence & Worcester rail line. At 1:15 a.m. Thursday, the cars overturned, blocking the Johnson Street crossing in Middletown, Williams said in an email Thursday afternoon.

Track speed in the area is 10 mph.

“Unfortunately, the railroad expects the crossing to be blocked most of the day while awaiting the arrival of heavy equipment needed to re-rail the cars,” Williams said.

The train was traveling from New Haven to serve freight customers in Middletown and consisted of two locomotives and 29 cars, he said. “The derailed cars are three loads of coiled steel, two loaded lumber cars and three empty gondola cars. All but the two lumber cars are upright,” Williams added.

The train, which had come from Portland, traveled over the Connecticut River rail line before reaching the area of North Main and Johnson streets.

The fence belonging to a Johnson Street excavating company was knocked down during the derailment, according to the business owner.

Providence & Worcester, which was bought by Darien-based Genesee & Wyoming last Nov. 1, operates on two lines: the old Valley Railroad, which runs from Middletown to Hartford, and the old Airline Railroad, that used to go from Willimantic to New York City.

Headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts, and operating in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, P&W is contiguous with G&W’s New England Central Railroad and Connecticut Southern Railroad, according to its website.

The railroad transports goods for auto, chemicals, metals and lumber customers, handling approximately 43,000 carloads and intermodal units annually, the site said. The cause is still under investigation.

Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media Above and below, more than a half-dozen Providence & Worcester train cars went off the tracks early Thursday morning near the transfer station on Johnson Street in the city’s North End. No one was hurt, police said.