REESEVILLE, Wis. — Twenty-nine cars of a CPKC train were reported to have derailed this afternoon (Tuesday, July 4) in Reeseville, leading to delays for Amtrak’s Empire Builder.
WKOW-TV reports the derailment occurred about 1:55 p.m. Chris Abell, deputy chief with Clyman-Lowell-Reeseville Fire & Rescue, told the station the derailed cars were carrying grain and potash. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said there were no injuries but significant property damage, and that Main Street in Reeseville is closed as a result. The road was reopened as of Wednesday morning.
The Amtrak Alerts Twitter site had announced at 4:40 p.m. CDT that today’s westbound Empire Builder and the eastbound train that left Seattle on July 2 would both detour around the derailment, skipping Wisconsin stops at Tomah, Wisconsin Dells, Portage, Columbus, and Milwaukee, as well as Glenview, Ill. The westbound train ended up departing Chicago 4 hours, 50 minutes late and as of 7:15 a.m. Wednesday had yet to arrive at St. Paul-Minneapolis, where it was due at 10:56 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Amtrak website. The eastbound train, which was delayed east of La Crosse, Wis., for an extended period, arrived in Chicago at 2:18 a.m., some 9 hours, 33 minutes late.
Reeseville (population 763 as of the 2020 census) is on the CPKC Watertown Subdivision, approximately 55 miles west of Milwaukee.
— Updated July 5 at 7:18 a.m. CDT with information on roads, Empire Builder status; updated at 10:35 a.m. with photo.
