(The following story by Canda Harbaugh appeared on The Western News website on June 29, 2010.)
LIBBY, Mont. — Heavy rain caused the rock slide that derailed a train and blocked the track for two days last week about 30 miles southeast of Libby, according to Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas.
“Excessive water due to so much rainfall recently basically saturated the cracks,” Melonas said. “… So much weight led to loosening of material and basically brought down loose rock that caused momentum – the movement that brought this shelf down.”
Geotech engineers inspected the rail before opening it up Friday morning and are also monitoring for roadbed and slope stability, Melonas said. BNSF may scale back some of the loose material in the ravine where the rock slide occurred, but no decisions were made as of Monday.
The rock slide Wednesday derailed 16 cars in a remote area near Wolf Creek Road off of Fisher River Road. No one was hurt and all of the derailed cars were empty except one carrying frozen turkeys.
Contractors from Libby, Whitefish and Sandpoint, Idaho and BNSF personnel worked around the clock Wednesday and Thursday to remove an excess of 7,000 cubic yards of material and to replace about 400 feet of track, Melonas said. Some of the cleanup work was hampered by continuing rock slides, but the line opened up at about 9 a.m. Friday.
“The line is open, conditions are safe, and we have resumed all traffic,” Melonas said.
Three cars have been re-railed, while 13 cars continue to rest on the side of the tracks. Crews will re-rail some of the less damaged ones over the next three weeks, he said, and cut some up for scrap metal.
The 88-car train was due west carrying soybean oil, corn syrup and other material when the slide took out the middle cars. Trains had to be rerouted during the two-day closure.