A Burlington Northern Santa Fe Freight Train derailed west of Ottawa early Saturday morning. About 30 cars carrying corn left the tracks west of the Louisiana Terrace crossing. Railroad officials responded quickly and in mass numbers to the scene with dozens of trucks carrying heavy equipment to move the rail cars from the scene and allow the corn to be picked up and transported into a steady line of grain trucks that came to the scene to assist with the cleanup. The incident led to the closure of both tracks, however, working continuously, BNSF was able to open at least one track of the main line early yesterday morning. Work is expected to continue for the next several days to get the area of the accident cleaned up.
The derailment happened about 12:45 Saturday morning just off Osborn Terrace, west of the Louisiana Road crossing. There were no injuries reported. The cause of the derailment is still under investigation.
Ottawa’s was one of two derailments BNSF dealt with over the weekend. The other at big Lake Minnesota, west of Saint Paul. Fifteen to 20 cars carrying cargo containers left the track. Those tracks were also reopened yesterday morning.
