(The Associated Press circulated the following article on December 18.)
COON RAPIDS, Minn. — Several containers rolled off of derailed train cars and landed near homes, but nobody was injured, authorities said.
The derailment Sunday morning stopped rail traffic on the Burlington-Northern Santa Fe Railroad’s main line between Seattle and Chicago. Containers tumbled off of the cars and onto both sides of the track, missing houses and power lines but landing near back yards.
The train was carrying merchandise sold in department stores, said Mark Bruce, the general manager of the BNSF Twin Cities division. No hazardous material was aboard the train.
Steve Forsberg, a BNSF spokesman in Kansas City, said the investigation was focusing on a possible broken angle bar, which holds the rail onto the track. He said the railroad hoped to have at least one track open by 8 a.m. Monday and the second between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. later in the day.