(The following story by John Weiss appeared on the Post-Bulletin website on July 30.)
BROWNSVILLE, Minn. — The derailment of an Iowa, Chicago & Eastern railroad train near the small town of Reno early Tuesday is the railroad’s third along the Mississippi River in far southeastern Minnesota or northeastern Iowa since May.
None have caused major environmental problems, said Tim Yager, manager of the McGregor District of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge. On Tuesday, 27 IC&E cars tipped over, some going into wetlands that are part of the refuge. One leaked about 1,200 gallons of ethanol into an abandoned oxbow, but Yager believes it didn’t leak into nearby Crooked Creek.
Because of the spill, Minnesota Highway 26 had to be closed. It was reopened at 7 p.m. Wednesday, though there will be single-lane closures during the day along the section being cleaned up, with traffic controlled by flaggers, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The lane closures will continue until the project is completed.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesman Doug Neville said the derailment could be related to the failure of a wooden railroad bridge. It’s not clear if the privately owned bridge collapsed under the train, or if derailed cars took it out. It’s also unclear if the railroad owns the bridge.
An IC&E spokesman said no injuries occurred. The cause of the derailment is under investigation.
Yager said IC&E, which is a subsidiary of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, previously had two derailments at the Turkey River near Guttenberg, Iowa. “It’s become a common thing,” he said. “They certainly have had a string of bad luck here.”
Four ethanol cars derailed at the bridge Tuesday, and one leaked into the adjacent wetland. In all, fewer than five acres of wetlands were affected. The leak was minor, Yager said.
Other cars had sunflower seeds, corn and phosphoric acid that is used as agriculture fertilizer. IC&E will have to build large causeways to get to the derailed cars, he said. They will have to try to restore the wetlands as best they can.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)