By Andy Johns

DALTON, Ga. — A railroad track blocked since Sunday evening by a derailment is ready to reopen, a CSX spokesman said just before 6 p.m.

It took railroad crews about 24 hours to clean up and repair three-quarters of a mile of track that was damagedwhen a freight train jumped the track in Whitfield County about 6:35 p.m.

The Nashville-bound freight train derailed northwest of Dalton between Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 41, officials said.

Of the 10 cars that dumped over, six were full of cotton seed, one carried lumber and one was empty, according to Gary Sease, a spokesman for CSX Corp., which owns the train. No hazardous materials were involved and no one was injured, he said.

Mr. Sease said the cars were “rerailed” around 3 a.m. before a crew arrived to replace damaged rails with new ones. He said the crew brought in prefabricated sections of track “like on a model train set” that were laid down to speed up the process.

But several train cars still lay on their sides alongside the track about 2:30 p.m. Monday.

While the track was repaired, trains were diverted through Birmingham, Ala., according to Mr. Sease.

Mr. Sease said the investigation into the cause of the crash could take a month.

See Tuesday’s Times Free Press for complete coverage.