NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (CNS) - All roads in National City affected by Monday morning's train derailment are open Tuesday.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway work crews worked through the night and will continue to work Tuesday to clear the area but no further street shut downs are expected, National City police said.
A freight train derailed early Monday morning near Naval Base San Diego, damaging a commercial building and some vehicles alongside the rails but causing no injuries. At least nine cars on the northbound train, which was empty of cargo, went off the tracks for unknown reasons just west of Interstate 5 in National City about 2 a.m.
At least one of the cars struck a building housing CNC Electronics West Inc., a parts supplier in the 1400 block of Tidelands Avenue, leaving cracks on the exterior of the structure. No one was inside the building at the time, and no one on the train was hurt, authorities said.
A structural engineer was called in to determine if the damaged building remains structurally sound.
The accident also downed several trees, sending them toppling onto at least nine unoccupied vehicles in a parking lot at the electronics business.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the derailment, which forced closures of stretches of Cleveland Avenue, Tidelands Avenue, 19th Street and 24th Street.
Though firefighters were initially working to clear the area, ultimately Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway has been responsible for the cleanup, National City Fire Marshal Robert Hernandez said.
Officials with the railroad company planned to bring in a large crane to get the derailed freight cars back onto the tracks. They hoped to have the task complete before dark, Hernandez said, but the cleanup extended through Tuesday morning.
