Train derails overnight in Westford, town manager says no one notified

WESTFORD, MAss. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A train derailed in Westford overnight, and police were responding to the incident Thursday morning.

The call about the train came in overnight, according to Town Manager Jodi Ross. The train derailed at around 11 p.m. Wednesday, and nobody from the company that owns the train, Pan Am, notified anyone in the town, Ross said.

The fire chief noticed the incident as he drove by the train at 9:30 a.m. At around 10:50 a.m. Thursday, Westford police announced that Bridge Street had been closed at North Main and Pine Ridge Road.

A spokesperson for Pan Am said  that the train has 12 cars in total, some carrying paper goods, one carrying latex and two others with propane. The two cars with propane went off the tracks, and a locomotive was expected Thursday afternoon to pull them back onto the tracks.

A call went out to warn residents within a half-mile of the incident, but Ross said there is no hazard at this point.

Members of the town's board of health, fire department and police department were meeting Thursday morning to discuss the incident and how to get the cars back on the tracks successfully without them toppling over.

The Pan Am spokesperson said the company did not notify the town because crews sent out Wednesday night did not feel there was an immediate danger, and because all of the train cars are upright.

Cox Media Group