Last week’s train derailment in Greene County remains under investigation.

Union Pacific Spokesperson Mark Davis says anytime an accident occurs and one of their trains goes off the tracks, they want to be as thorough as they can be and make sure they have the cause pinpointed exactly.

During an investigation, Davis points out that they standard procedure is that they have four teams look into each accident.  The four areas are tracks, locomotive and rail cars, human factors and other outside elements.  He states all four groups looks at their separate areas and then they all come together to decide on what may have caused a derailment.

In the incident that occurred last Monday night when eight empty box cars derailed between Scranton and Jefferson, Davis says the investigation is looking at metal testing to see if it was something on the rail itself or a mechanical issue.

Repairs to 25 railroad ties were made on 200 feet of damaged track and both sets of tracks were opened and cleared by 2:40am on Wednesday, January 22nd adds Davis.

He notes that they haven’t ruled anything out at this point.

The last train derailment in the county was east of Grand Junction on May 9th, 2013 when 12-15 cars were severely damaged and spilled debris onto a county road.  The cause of that accident was a malfunction of a rail wheel and too much rain water on the tracks.

Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.