South Congaree, SC (Paul Kirby) – A train struck and killed a pedestrian who was walking on the railroad tracks just outside of South Congaree Thursday morning around 9:00 a.m. The train stopped and someone quickly dialed 911. Units from the county’s South Congaree fire station responded as did Lexington County EMS. They quickly reported that the person was trapped under the train and deceased. The Lexington County Coroner’s Office was notified and had their team on the scene within a short time.
These railroad tracks run from Columbia out to the silica plant on Edmund Highway and into the Edmund community. These are the tracks that also pass the South Congaree Town Hall. Although they had at one time gone west toward Aiken County, decades ago that part of the line was decommissioned and the tracks were re-purposed by many of the communities they ran through. The portion where the accident happened is not heavily traveled as they only service limited businesses.
The train remained stopped for some time as the Lexington County Sheriff's Department's Traffic Team investigated the accident. They were in charge of the scene because railroad tracks are private property.
No roads were blocked by the stopped train as it sat between Chapel and Princeton Roads just west of South Congaree.
No identity of the victim will be released until the coroner makes all the proper family notifications. That information may not be released for some time.
