The tracks skirt the James River on the edge of downtown, near several businesses and an old shoe manufacturing company that has been converted into apartments. Officer Paul Cole of the Lynchburg Police Department said those shops and the apartment complex were evacuated as a precaution. The courthouse also was closed, though Cole said it is four blocks from the accident scene at 10th and Commerce streets.
The derailment occurred between about 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m., Svrcek said. Fire crews are on the scene. Jefferson St. and Commerce St. are closed in the downtown area, as are a pair of bridges to adjacent Amherst County, Svrcek said. The cause of the crash remains unknown, she said.
Lynchburg is a city of about 75,000 people, more than 100 miles west of Richmond. It’s also where Liberty University is located.
We’re glad everyone’s ok there. We have family in the area affected, we’ve been thinking about you. Their wondering what caused it, did the flood water’s, deteriorate the land under the rail’s?