NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — An early-morning train derailment about three miles east of North Platte along Highway 30 involving six locomotives and 265 cars was loud enough to awaken Bruce Gordon, a retired brand inspector, who lives more than half a mile away, the North Platte Telegraph reported.
The accident happened about 4:20 a.m.
“It was a terrible noise, and I didn’t know for sure what happened,” he said.
Gordon didn’t take a look right away. He said it was about a half an hour before he looked out and saw flames from the wreck.
“It was about daylight then and you could see the fire flying and a lot of smoke drifting this way,” Gordon said.
The derailment involved two westbound trains and one eastbound train. All the trains were empty.
Minor cuts and bruises to four crewmembers were the only reported injuries to four of the the six crewmembers involved. All were released from the hospital by noon. According to Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley, “The first westbound train was stopped and was rear-ended by the second westbound train, and the eastbound train hit the debris from the collision and derailed.”
The locomotive on the second train exploded and burned. The fire was confined to the immediate area of the wrecked locomotive.
Why and how the trains collided is still under investigation. The locomotives’ data recorders will be part of that investigation.
“All the data is recorded and we just have not had a chance to look at it yet,” General Manager Rich Jensen said late Wednesday afternoon. “We want to sit down with the government together and look at it.”
That meeting will not happen until the trains are running normally, though, Jensen said.
The wreck was costly, Jensen said.
“Two of the four engines were built in March of this year,” he said, “and they cost about $1.5 million each.” There were a total of six locomotives on the three trains, pulling 265 cars.
UP spokesman Mark Davis said the train standing still was an empty coal train destined for Powder River, Wyo., from Chicago, and the train that slammed into that stopped train was another empty coal train scheduled to go to North Platte from Chicago.
According to Davis, the empty westbound train had stopped and crewmembers were going to inspect it when the other coal train rear-ended it. The eastbound train was an auto train, also empty, going from Oakland, Calif., to Kansas City, Kan., with 45 total cars.
In all, 29 of 33 cars that derailed were destroyed. Officials said Wednesday afternoon that the locomotives will all be rebuilt and put back into service.
“They will all be repairable,” said Davis. “They will taken them down to the shop in Little Rock, Ark., and they will come out looking like brand new locomotives.”
One locomotive that burned was on its side, while another engine from a different train was tipped at a 45-degree angle.
Rail cars piled into each other like accordions while another stretched onto U.S. Highway 30 resulting in the road being closed. It was reopened at about 6 p.m. after being closed for 13 hours.
Workers used cranes and other heavy machinery to remove the engines and cars. Others brought in prefabricated temporary track and installed it.
The first train to roll through on new, temporary tracks passed the accident site shortly after 5 p.m. Work continued at Bailey Yard unimpeded.
In all, 1,580 feet of track needed attention, “and it was about an even split between all three,” said Jensen. The temporary tracks eventually will be replaced with permanent tracks.