MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Railroad industry officials say it was an issue with the 100-year-old tracks that caused several railroad cars and a tanker carrying propane to overturn in Manatee County near 16th Street East on Tuesday.
The tanker is holding 30,000 gallons of propane and is not leaking.
Regardless, local leaders say safety remains a top concern.
"Hopefully, the federal railroad authorities are paying attention to what's happening. Everyone is noticing that we have serious issues with our infrastructure and a lot of time poisonous chemicals are going through on these trains through our communities and through our neighborhoods," said Kevin VanOstenbridge, Manatee County Commission chair.
Florida congressman Vern Buchanan and other local leaders toured the site and they say more needs to be done on the federal level to help keep railroads safe.
"So now we’re going to take a hard look at what’s happening here and happening across the country. 1,000 accidents a year, I think a year or two ago it was 1,100, so it's something we clearly want to take a look at and make sure we’re doing everything we can," said Buchanan.
Robert Fay of Seminole Gulf Railway says the tracks are checked weekly. Fay says for safety reasons, trains only travel 5 miles per hour on this 100-year-old line.
But there’s a lack of critical funding to replace old tracks.
"It's not enough. We could use additional assistance," said Fay.
Fay says, especially after the damage done to railroads by Hurricane Ian.
"Our railroad was significantly impacted by Hurricane Ian on our Ft. Myers division line; we lost six of our bridges that were completely destroyed," said Fay.
The railway track issue that caused this incident is still being investigated.
Railroad officials say it should all be cleaned up and repaired by early next week.
