(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 12.)
PAWNEE, Okla. — City railroad intersections and Oklahoma 18 were blocked when five cars of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train derailed early Monday morning, authorities said.
“There were five cars involved, all of them are upright,” BNSF spokesman Joe Faust said.
“There were no injuries and no spill of hazardous material.”
One of the cars was carrying sodium bisulfite, a chemical considered hazardous, but there was no leak, Faust said.
Three of the cars contained building supply materials and the fifth was empty, he said.
Police initially reported that two trains had collided, but that was not the case, Faust said.
Faust said the derailment occurred about 4 a.m. when the engineer of a westbound train traveling through Pawnee was notified by the engineer of an eastbound train that was sitting on an adjacent track that some cars had come off the track.
The cause of the derailment had not been determined, Faust said.
The track was expected to be cleared by 3 p.m.