NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. — A D&I Railroad train derailed on BNSF Railway trackage in North Sioux City today (Aug. 30), damaging a bridge and leaving derailed cars suspended over a roadway.
KCAU-TV reports the derailment occurred about 4 p.m., and that BNSF confirmed the train involved belonged to D&I, the subsidiary of concrete, paving, and aggregates company L.G. Everist that operates the 138-mile line between Dell Rapids, S.D., and Sioux City, Iowa. Reports say at least a dozen covered hoppers have overturned, with two hanging above State Route 105 (Main Street) near Military Road. KCAU reports the train also included cars of ethanol.
No injuries have been reported and no leaks or spills have been discovered, KTIV-TV reports. Company officials told KTIV that they would be investigating the incident and had no other comment. KTIV drone video appears to show the bridge at the site has partially collapsed.
This particular line dates back to before SD statehood (1899) when it was the Jamestown ND to Sioux City SD line for MILW. The Jamestown to Aberdeen section was pulled up and BNSF now calls it the Aberdeen Line.
It appears to act as a sort of alternate in case the TC to Chicago route has issues and provide north access to KCMO & Omaha. Since Everist seems to use it quite a bit I assume its only weekly use is for fertilizers in the spring and agricultural pickup in the fall. Hence all the empty hoppers that were lining up.
The bridge appears to have partially collapsed. Yeah, me thinks you may be correct on that assumption Watson. No did the derailment do it or did the bridge collapse do it? THAT is the question….
Actually the main part of the bridge, the steel beams over the road, are still there sitting on their posts. What “collapsed” was the wooden walkways on each side of the tracks. The hoppers are apparently empty, but after they turned over, dragged for a while and took out that wooden walkway along with all of the ties that were pulled up.
Speculation on my part but given how much damage before and after the bridge I suspect the derailed first and subsequently damaged the bridge. As John notes, much of the damage appears to be limited to the deck and timber stringers. Watching the video my un-expert guess would be the train came off near the switch to the south and dragged through the bridge. The damage to the track south of the bridge seems to be more severe.