(Television station KPVI published the following report by Aaron Kunz on its website on August 26.)
POCATELLO, Idaho — A spokesman for Union Pacific says a faulty wheel is to blame for this morning’s accident. A 12-car train was going southbound on the tracks when a wheel apparently got stuck on a switch; that’s a moving portion of the track that tells the train where to go. That’s what caused one boxcar holding grain to overturn and take several other cars with it.
The grain spilled on the track and then onto the underpass portion of Northgate Mile. We’re told nobody was injured, and while it looked bad, the cost is not going to be much.
John Bromley of Union Pacific, said, “As far as railroad accidents go, this one isn’t particularly costly. There is going to be very little track damage and very little damage to the cars. It’s mostly the labor cost of trans-loading the cars.”
According to Union Pacific, they are just finishing up the cleanup portion of the derailment. They had to lighten the cars by removing the grain, so they could lift those cars back onto the track.
John Bromley also says he doesn’t think this was the same thing that caused a train to derail in the same place earlier this year.