(The Associated Press circulated the following story on March 22.)
BARSTOW, Calif. — A freight train derailed Sunday in a remote desert area about a mile from Ludlow with no reported injuries, fire officials said.
Twenty-six of the 98 cars on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway freight train derailed at about 10 a.m., said Tom Barnes, dispatch supervisor for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
There were no reported injuries but two derailed cars leaked about 30,000 gallons of calcium chloride solution, Barnes said.
Calcium chloride is a salt frequently used to melt snow and ice, as well as control dust.
The substance is not hazardous, but hazardous materials crews were expected to clean up the spill, Barnes said. Another car carrying 12,600 butane lighters also derailed but was not damaged.
Ludlow is located along Interstate 40 about 50 miles east of Barstow and about 135 miles east-northeast of downtown Los Angeles.