HARLAN, Ky. (AP) - A boulder slid off a mountain and rolled onto Kentucky Highway 2007, derailing a CSX coal train Thursday morning, officials said.
Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley said no injuries were reported. “An early Christmas miracle,” Mosley told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Two locomotives and eight cars loaded with coal derailed around 2 a.m., after the rock slide, CSX said in a statement. It’s unclear when the rock slide occurred.
The train’s engineer saw the rock on the track and attempted to slow down, CSX said.
A tree fell on a nearby home because of the slide but no one was inside at the time.
Highway 2007 is a rural road connecting Wallins Creek to Coldiron but Mosley said the road is important to the towns’ residents. Department of Highways spokesman Les Dixon said the road would be closed for up to a month. Drivers need take KY 219 and KY 3467 as alternative routes.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is removing rocks from the roadway and will be constructing an access to remove remaining overhanging boulders to stabilize the wall.
CSX said there were no apparent leaks or impacts to the waterways in Harlan Creek. The company was also working to remove the train.
In February, a rock slide in Draffin caused a fiery train derailment and a chemical leak into a river in nearby Pike County. Two crew members of the CSX train were initially trapped but were later rescued.
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