MINOT, N.D. — BNSF’s northern transcontinental main line is currently blocked after an early-morning derailment of an intermodal train near Des Lacs, N.D., approximately 14 miles west of Minot.
A customer advisory on the BNSF website says the derailment occurred about 3:36 a.m. CDT today (Friday, Feb. 24). The Dakotan website quotes Karter Lesmann, chief of the Burlington Rural Fire Department, as saying two locomotives and 17 container cars were derailed. No injuries were reported and no hazardous materials were released, although some were present on the train, Lesmann said.
One track of the main line is estimated to reopen at 11 p.m. today, BNSF said on its website; the second is estimated for reopening at noon on Saturday, Feb. 25.
While the derailment is on the route of Amtrak’s Empire Builder, no Amtrak trains were impacted by the accident because of the weather-related cancellation of the Builder’s Thursday departures from both Chicago and the West Coast. Those are the trains that would have been passing through North Dakota today.
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