(The Statesman-Journal posted the following article on its website on January 11.)
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Union Pacific freight train derailed in Eastern Oregon late Saturday, sending three train cars carrying lumber plunging into the Columbia River.
What caused 17 of the train?s 92 cars to derail was unknown Sunday morning, Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said.
The crash blocked westbound lanes of Highway 730 near Umatilla. Traffic was rerouted onto eastbound lanes around the crash.
Nobody was injured, and there was no threat to the environment, Bromley said.
The train was traveling south from Eastport, Idaho, near the Canadian border, to the Union Pacific switchyard at Hinkle, near Hermiston, carrying lumber and asphalt, Bromley said.