FAIRMONT, Okla. — High winds are being blamed for the derailment of a BNSF train today (July 21) near the town of Fairmont.
BNSF said 29 cars derailed while the train was stopped because of high winds, according to the Associated Press. The railroad said no one was injured and no hazardous materials were involved.
The train was blown over about 4 a.m., Mike Honigsberg, Enid and Garfield County Emergency Management director, told the Enid News & Eagle. Fairmont is about 10 miles east of Enid on BNSF’s Avard Subdivision, and is about 60 miles north of Oklahoma City. Winds may have reached 90 mph at the time; winds of 84 mph were recorded at Vance Air Force Base near Enid.
Photos on the newspapers’s website show a long string of double-stack container cars that had been blown onto their side. The intersection of Fairmont and Southgate roads is expected to be blocked for a few days while the derailment is cleaned up.
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