CSX crews cleared the last of the derailed freight train cars from the Howard Street Tunnel early Thursday, and officials expect traffic to resume sometime during the day.
CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle said he couldn't be more specific on when the tunnel would reopen. "It's still a labor-intensive mechanical operation so it's hard to be precise," he said.
The final train car was placed back on the rails and moved out about 1:30 a.m., nearly three days after 13 of the train's 124 cars derailed at the Mount Royal Station Monday morning and ground to a halt inside the tunnel.
Workers are now replacing the train tracks damaged in the derailment, Doolittle said.
"As soon as work is completed, final inspections will take place and trains will start running again," he said.
The difficulty of re-railing train cars inside a narrow tunnel was exacerbated by their volatile contents. One carried acetone, the flammable chemical commonly used in paint thinner and nail polish remover, and the other 12 had residual amounts of liquefied petroleum gas — causing crews to take extra precaution, authorities said.
In the days the tunnel has been shut down, freight traffic has been routed west to Cumberland, Doolittle said.
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