NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. — New photos show crews are making progress cleaning up and restoring the rail line damaged when a CSX freight train derailed in rural New Kent County last weekend.
CSX officials previously said two locomotives and 53 cars carrying coal derailed into the wetlands around 3:10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25 between Roxbury and South Mountcastle roads. A source told Jon Burkett that a bridge was also "taken out" in the crash.
As a result, the Amtrak trains that use those tracks, which continue through James City County and then Williamsburg before ending at the coal piers in Newport News, have been closed.
"As you can see, the rebuild is underway and everything but a locomotive and one railcar is left to be removed," Burkett posted on Facebook Saturday.
Burkett crews were working "at a swift pace" to get the rail line back open and the site cleaned up.
"We wouldn’t know any of this if it wasn’t for the steady hand and reporting from citizen journalist, James Lipscomb," Burkett wrote. "Job well done, James!"
Earlier this week, the James River Association expressed serious concerns about the derailment as thousands of tons of coal and thousands of gallons of diesel fuel were spilled at the site, which is near the Chickahominy River.
Tom Dunlap, with the association, called the incident a "punch in the gut" for conservation efforts in the region.
“We are deeply concerned about the impacts to the Chickahominy River, surrounding wetlands, and the people who work and live around the derailment site. The Chickahominy is a unique and critical tributary of the James River and the greater Chesapeake Bay, providing critical environmental benefits and habitat to plants and wildlife,” Dunlap said. “Many of the neighboring property owners have spent years or decades working on conservation practices to protect this area for the important resource that it is."
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PHOTOS: CSX train carrying coal derails in New Kent
The environmental group noted that the affected area ranks among the top 3.5% of Virginia lands for ecological value. The Chickahominy River serves as a drinking water source for several communities, including Newport News.
CSX officials said they were coordinating cleanup efforts with the Environmental Protection Agency and Virginia environmental officials.
The freight company noted that the site was contained with "fencing, booms and turbidity curtains to prevent potential migration of any petroleum products or suspended solids."
"Response crews have observed no new impacts to any nearby waterways," CSX officials said in a statement on Wednesday. "Our primary focus continues to be on the health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding community, and mitigating potential risk to the environment."
Officials said they recovered roughly 4,000 of an estimated 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled when two locomotives derailed. The cleanup of roughly 4,000 tons of coal from the 53 cars that derailed remains ongoing, officials said.
There has been no word on when the rail line, which was damaged in the incident, will be reopened.
The derailment caused Amtrak trains between Richmond and Newport News to be canceled.
"We remain committed to recovering the remaining equipment and product, repairing our infrastructure, and completely restoring the area," railroad company officials said.
An investigation into why the train ran off the tracks remains ongoing.
WATCH: CSX works to clean up massive coal train derailment in Virginia
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