CHEHALIS, Wash. — After being shut down for more than a month when insurers declined to renew its policy, the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum has acquired insurance that will allow some activity to resume.
The Centralia Chronicle reports the heritage rail operation acquired premises-liability insurance as of April 8, allowing work to resume at the site. It remains without the insurance which would allow it to operate tourist trains.
“We have property insurance on our facility, and as of Friday, we have liability insurance,” the organization’s president, May Kay Nelson, told the newspaper. “The property insurance would only cover if something would happen, like a fire or whatever to the engine. But liability will protect it with people working on it. And that’s what we put into place Friday.”
The railroad suspended operations March 6 when its operating liability insurance expired and the four companies that provide coverage declined to insure the railroad, citing more than $1 million in losses as a result of operating accidents in a 6-year period [see “Accident losses led to end of insurance …,” Trains News Wire, March 10, 2022].
Nelson told the newspaper the organization has not yet sought operating insurance in part because January flooding washed out about 1½ miles of track, and that needs to be repaired before operations can resume. The new insurance will allow that work to take place; it could start in June.
