(The Associated Press circulated the following article on May 24.)
BILL, Wyo. — Coal train traffic was returning to normal Monday after snow and rain damaged a major rail route and caused a pair of derailments near Bill.
A BNSF coal train derailed May 14 and a Union Pacific train derailed the next day. Instability in the gravel underlying the tracks apparently caused both derailments, according to UP spokesman John Bromley.
“It gets fouled with coal dust from the trains and other dirt gets in there. That creates a rough ride for the trains and slows them down,” Bromley said.
Crews have been working to stabilize the tracks. They imposed speed limits as low as 10 mph, although by Monday the speed limits had been increased to no slower than 25 mph.
“It’s running pretty fluid now,” Bromley said. “We’re still running a little below what we could consider our normal volumes.”
UP typically runs 36 trains to and from the Powder River Basin’s vast surface coal mines each day. About 30 trains were making the trips Monday.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas likewise said traffic was approaching normal levels.
BNSF and UP jointly own the tracks, but BNSF maintains them.