(The Associated Press circulated the following story by David Pitt on June 28.)
DES MOINES, Iowa — Union Pacific Railroad Co. was completing repairs Wednesday on sections of a central Iowa track damaged a day earlier in a two-train collision.
Spokesman James Barnes said traffic was diverted to other tracks since the accident damaged rails on two of the railroad’s main east-west tracks on Tuesday afternoon.
One of the damaged tracks reopened Wednesday afternoon and the other was expected to open later in the day.
A 138-car coal train traveling from Wyoming to Iowa apparently sideswiped a 94-car container train traveling from Illinois to California, Barnes said.
A locomotive and 42 rail cars of the coal train derailed, he said.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
The collision twisted a section of the tracks and required replacement of rails, ties and ballast. Damaged cars had to be removed and spilled coal recovered.
No injuries were reported and no chemicals were spilled, he said.
The crash site was about a quarter-mile long in a wooded area on the Meskwaki Settlement about two miles west of Tama.
Union Pacific, the nation’s largest railroad, operates in 23 states including Iowa, where it has 1,480 miles of track.
The Iowa Department of Transportation says the rail line’s main products handled in Iowa include grain, food and food products, chemicals/fertilizers and miscellaneous mixed shipments.
Movement of coal is one of the company’s fastest growing areas of business.
The railroad said it moves more than 250 million tons of coal a year.
The railroad is the principal operating company of Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Corp.
Shares rose $1.22 to $114.70 on Wednesday.