CHOUDRANT, La. — Twenty-four cars of a westbound CPKC train derailed Wednesday afternoon east of Choudrant, the Ruston Daily Leader reports.
The incident occurred about 2:30 p.m. No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were involved, according to law enforcement officers on the scene. Cleanup was underway as of Wednesday evening; no information was available as to a cause of the derailment.
Choudrant is a village of 1,458 as of the 2020 census. The derailment site is about 10 miles east of Ruston on CPKC’s Vicksburg Subdivision, and 75 miles east of Shreveport.
The CPKC said that eight of the train cars were carrying mixed freight, including lubricating oil, particle board and aluminum, five of the train cars previously carried hazardous material, and the remaining ten rail cars were empty.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
According to the sheriff, the train had broken into three sections, with one section still upright, another section upright but one car had lost its axles, and a third section with about 23 to 24 rail cars was off the tracks and “scrambled up pretty good.”
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Lincoln Parish’s most recent derailments in 2007 and 2011 occurred at approximately the same location.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
From the photo in the article it looks like the train rode quite a distance on the web of the rail after both rails rolled over.
Looking at a topo map, the line goes down a mild grade to Pleasant Hill Creek crosses 2 bridges and then back up a mild grade going west into Choudrant. I would suspect the consist probably keep rolling down the grade.