(The following story by Alexis Hunt appeared at KHQA.com on March 13.)
QUINCY, Ill. — It was about two miles west of Golden that a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train car jumped the tracks. The train was heading from Galesburg to Memphis Tennessee when someone placed railroad ties on the tracks,.
“We’re certainly suspicious that this was an act of vandalism because you rarely see objects there piled on the tracks,” said Steve Forsberg, a BNSF spokesman.
BNSF isn’t taking this lightly. Putting something on railroad tracks is a federal offense and could cause major damage. Wednesday morning, it caused one of the 82 car train’s cars to derail…that tied up the tracks for more than 13 hours. If you travel by way of train a lot, Forsberg says there’s no need to worry. He told me this is the first incident like this in this area. He told me tracks are inspected several times a week. In fact, every train has a crew that observes the tracks, plus BNSF Police also keep an eye out.
So you can rest assured as you ride the rails, someone is looking out for your safety so your trip stays on track.
By the way, it took more than 30 minutes for crews to make repairs to the tracks. We also spoke with the U-S Attorney’s office in Springfield. They told us whomever’s responsible for trying to wreck a train by putting something on the track will pay. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison and, or a fine. If you have any information about this incident, you’re asked to call your local law enforcement.