(The following article by Sarah Langbein was posted on the Rocky Mountain News website on May 14.)
DENVER — Fifteen empty train cars traveling through downtown Denver skidded off a track Thursday and three of them plunged into the South Platte River.
The derailment just after 1 p.m. went virtually unnoticed by the public because of its obscured location, just west of Coors Field and below the Park Avenue overpass.
But initial reports that hazardous materials were onboard the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe train caused a frantic response by law enforcement.
It was quickly learned that the 118-car and five-locomotive train was empty and only two people were on the train – the conductor and the engineer.
Neither was injured.
Dive rescue members were sent into the river as a precaution, in case anyone had been near the track.
The train was just departing the Burlington Northern operations facility – just feet from the accident – and headed for Laurel, Mont., when it derailed on a curve, company spokeswoman Lena Kent said.
Cars in the middle of the train derailed where the tracks turn north between Interstate 25 and the South Platte.
As of Thursday evening, officials had not determined the cause of the accident, and a crane was brought in to lift the 60-ton cars back onto the track.
In addition to the three cars in the South Platte River, eight had overturned and four remained standing next to the track.
“We’ll be working through the night,” Kent said.
Some tracks were damaged and a transformer was hit by one of the derailed cars, police spokeswoman Teresa Garcia said.
Officials expected to have the scene cleaned up by 5 a.m. today.
“Fortunately, there were no injuries or hazardous materials,” Kent said.
In February, a Union Pacific train derailed in Glenwood Canyon, spilling coal from two cars into the Colorado River and tossing 41 other cars off the rails.
In May 2003, another Union Pacific train derailed about 25 miles west of Denver. One locomotive and 15 cars in the middle of the train came undone near Plainview.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there have been 63 train accidents in Colorado between January 2003 and February 2004.
Those accidents caused about $9 million in damage to tracks and equipment.
In all, they involved the derailment of 267 railroad cars.
Burlington Northern was involved in 28 of the 63 accidents reported to the Federal Railroad Administration during that time.
The 28 Burlington Northern accidents involved the derailment of 66 cars overall.