(The following story by Melinda Keenan appeared on the Omaha World-Herald website on November 15.)
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific Railroad expects to have two tracks at Ames, Neb., reopened sometime this morning following the Sunday derailment of two trains.
The trains derailed at 4:40 a.m. about six miles west of Fremont as they were passing each other, said U.P. spokesman Mark Davis. No one was injured.
Cars on a train from St. Paul, Minn., bound for North Platte, jumped the tracks and hit cars on a North Platte train, bound for Chicago. Twenty cars filled with sand on the Minnesota train derailed, Davis said. Twelve cars on the North Platte train derailed. Ten of those cars were empty; two contained soda ash, which is used in making glass.
U.P. crews spent Sunday cleaning up the area and making repairs.
Davis said one of the rail lines was to be reopened during the night after 200 feet of track was replaced. Another 1,300 feet of track was expected to be replaced on the other rail line this morning.