(The following article by Nguyen Huy Vu was posted on the Seattle Times website on September 22.)
SEATTLE — Rail service in the Northwest was restored yesterday, a day after 26 cars on two freight trains derailed in Cowlitz County.
The accident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. Friday when a train came off the tracks and sideswiped another freight train as they passed near Ostrander, investigators said. No injuries were reported.
Amtrak officials estimate nine passenger trains traveling through the Northwest were affected by the track closure.
Hundreds of travelers coming up from California and Oregon were rerouted to buses to finish their trips, Amtrak officials said.
Portland resident David Tangvald had planned to take an Amtrak train to Seattle with his children to attend a family reunion.
“We were planning to go to the Seattle Center and go see the Space Needle. It was the perfect day for it, considering the weather,” he said from his home. “But unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
The freight trains were passing each other on the Burlington Northern line, one traveling at about 5 mph and the other moving at about 25 mph when the accident occurred, authorities said.
Cowlitz County sheriff’s Capt. Mark Nelson told The Daily News in Longview that some cars tipped over while others stayed upright but were zigzagged alongside the tracks.
“Some of them are stacked up like pick-up sticks,” Nelson said.
The trains were operated by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which owns the tracks, and Union Pacific Railroad.
Burlington Northern spokesman Gus Melonas said six cars from the company’s train were derailed.
Union Pacific spokesman John Bromely said 20 of the train’s 107 cars derailed, none containing any hazardous materials.
The cause of the wreck was still being determined, as was the extent of damage.
On Friday night, Burlington work crews worked through the night to move some derailed cars off the track and place others back on, Melonas said.
Crews spent yesterday repairing the track before freight and passenger service was fully restored by 6 p.m.