Train derailment cleaned up

Nick Ianniello

Mineral Independent

A train that derailed less than 10 miles from Superior last week has been cleared from the tracks and trains are now moving through the area.

According to Linda Frost, the Public Information Officer for Montana Rail Link, no one was hurt and no debris made it into the Clark Fork River during the Feb. 16 accident.

Frost said that Rail Link Employees are still working to clean up some of the coal spilled on and around the tracks.

“It’s going to be an ongoing process to clean that area up,” Frost said.

The coal is being picked up car by car and carted off. Frost said that once they have a contractor all of the coal will be taken to a landfill in North Dakota.

“Once that coal has been spilled nobody’s interested in receiving it,” Frost said.

The train that derailed was pulling 124 cars, 23 of which were involved in the wreck that dumped coal and broken train parts over the track near Superior.

Frost said that there were no hazardous materials involved in the accident.

Montana Rail Link brought in heavy equipment the Tuesday following the accident to remove damaged train cars and debris from the site of the accident.

“Needless to say when you re-rail those heavy boxcars it takes some specialized equipment,” said Frost.

Frost had estimated the tracks would be cleared by 11 p.m. Tuesday, but workers finished five hours earlier.

“There’s so many variables involved in a situation like this it’s often difficult to predict an accurate time. Fortunately we were able to beat the time,” Frost said.

While the train debris was being removed from the track, trains took an alternate route around the accident site through Paradise, Dixon and Ravalli.

Mineral County Road Foreman Jason McClees, a former Montana Rail Link employee, said Tuesday morning that some of the heavy equipment used to clean up the incident may damage the chip seal or other parts of the roads used to access the fairly remote accident site but Montana Rail Link has always been helpful in repairing any damage done to county roads.

“We try to be as helpful to them as we can so they can get things cleared up,” McClees said.

After the train debris and equipment was moved, Montana Rail Link workers brought in new sections of railroad track to replace the track that was damaged in the accident.

Frost said that as of yet they have no information regarding how the train was derailed and they are still investigating possible causes.

“We’re still working on the cause, we just don’t know what happened yet,” Frost said.

She added that they are still not sure how much damage the wreck has done.

“We’ll have a better idea of how much damage has been done as soon as we get everything moved out of the way,” Frost said.