(The following article by Kristen Senz was posted on the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel website on June 27.)
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Union Pacific Railroad re-opened its main track from Salt Lake City to Denver at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday after a derailment Saturday near Glenwood Springs that left hundreds of Amtrak passengers stranded overnight.
Investigators haven’t determined what caused 18 cars of a 108-car coal train to leave the track around 2 p.m. Saturday, or what caused five of 109 cars on a mixed freight train to derail last Tuesday morning near Kremmling, Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said Sunday. No injuries were reported in either incident, he said.
It’s unusual for Union Pacific to have two derailments in less than a week, but the railroad company isn’t considering any preventative work on the main track until officials know what caused the derailments, Bromley said.
“It’s a little premature for that,” he said.
A single track area of between 5,000 and 9,000 feet where trains can pass or be passed is still out of commission after Saturday’s derailment, Bromley said, adding that he didn’t know yet when it would be repaired. The side track, however, “is just an operational inconvenience; it’s not that big of an issue,” he said.
Amtrak passengers were held overnight and bused to their destinations Sunday, a spokeswoman said.
Bromley said he couldn’t calculate how much a derailment costs Union Pacific because he’d have to factor in damage to the track and train as well as delays in cargo delivery.