Cleanup work continues at derailment site

Cleanup work continues at the site yesterday's train derailment in downtown Shiner, local officials say, as two of the closed crossing in the city have now been opened.

Lavaca County Emergency Management Coordinator Egon Barthels, who incidentally, was elected less than a month ago to serve as a Shiner city councilman, reported at 10:30 a.m. Saturday that both Avenue G crossing by the post office and the Avenue C crossing by Shiner's Parker Lumber are now cleared and operational. He cautioned local drivers that the Avenue C crossing, while operational, is also actively in use by Union Pacific, so be careful out there and pay attention to the caution lights.

"We've seen some outstanding cooperation between all our local first responders as we work to deal with this emergency," said Barthels, who had now been on scene for more than 12 hours — that's after he put in a full workday at the courthouse in Hallettsville, having just returned from a several-day-long statewide emergency management conference in San Antonio — "I can't thank everyone enough for all they've done through all of this." 

Union Pacific crews are now focusing most of their efforts getting the crossing at Avenue E (U.S. Highway 90A) cleared, one of the city's main thoroughfares but also the site of the most damage and derailment debris.

Union Pacific has still commented on what might have caused the derailment, the newspaper continues to follow up. What for more right here as we continue to bring you live coverage from ongoing events here in Shiner.