By ERIN
JORDAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
April 14, 2005
Blairstown, Ia. - Train traffic on a major coast-to-coast freight line was
stopped Wednesday afternoon when a train accident just west of Blairstown
derailed 11 cars, injuring one crew member.
The derailment happened about 1:45 p.m.
when an eastbound Union Pacific coal train was stopped for traffic near
Blairstown and another train hit it from behind, railroad officials said.
Two crew members aboard the freight train traveling from North Platte, Neb., to
Chicago suffered minor injuries, said Mark Davis, spokesman for the Union
Pacific Railroad. A third crew member was transported by ambulance to Mercy Hospital in Cedar
Rapids for
non-life-threatening injuries, Davis said.
Dozens of new automobiles on the train were damaged as at least four train cars
tipped on their sides, said Michael Ferguson, chief deputy for the Benton
County Sheriff's Department.
"You didn't order a yellow GTO, did you?" Sheriff Randy Forsyth said.
"We saw one of those."
One rail car full of coal was crushed, leaving coal on the rail bed, Ferguson said. Hazardous materials crews
and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources were called because of an
estimated 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled.
Federal transportation officials were on the scene Wednesday afternoon to
investigate, Ferguson said.
Railroad officials quickly brought in bulldozers and other machinery to clean
up the scene, which cannot be accessed directly by road. Union Pacific planned
to have the derailment cleaned up by midnight or early today, Ferguson said,
but track repairs will likely delay traffic today.
Four or five trains an hour usually pass over the busy rails at Blairstown,
Forsyth said.
"A lot of commerce goes through here," Ferguson added. "They're backed up clear across the country
at this point."
Davis said crews would work through
Wednesday night to replace the damage and clean up the mess. He said there are
few detour routes in the area, so rail traffic on the freight line will remain
backed up until the scene is cleared.
