The train intersections at East Seventh Street and Webberville Road reopened Tuesday afternoon after shutting down because of an early morning derailment, Capital Metro said in an email. The area near East Sixth Street is still closed.
Seven train cars turned over early Tuesday. Two of the cars were carrying gravel and the other five were empty. The Austin Fire Department said no one was injured and no hazardous materials were involved in the derailment.
Officials said the cause is under investigation.
Lydia Romitti lives in a building next to the track near East Sixth Street and Robert T. Martinez Jr. Street. She said she heard the derailment before 4 a.m.
“Usually it’s pretty loud, but it sounded like a louder crash, almost like the train was breaking or putting on their breaks,” she said.
Romitti said there was a loud "boom" that came with a flash.
"It looked like a lightning bolt the way it flashed to our rooms,” she said. She ran to her balcony and saw the train had derailed.
CapMetro said it's providing bus service between the Downtown and MLK rail stations for the rest of the day, and staff are at station platforms to answer questions. Riders are encouraged to follow CapMetro on social media or sign up for transit alerts for updates going into Wednesday.
The 90-car train was running on the north to south part of the train tracks. Capital Metro, TxDOT, the Federal Rail Administration and the subcontractor that runs the rail system, Herzog, were on the scene for much of the day to reopen the roads.
Officials said one of the derailed train cars hit a utility pole. Austin Energy’s power outage map showed about 350 customers in that area were without power, but the utility reported that power was restored to everyone affected by 10:21 a.m.
Chelsey Zhu contributed to this story.
