Thursday, October 17th, 2024 Church Directory
FIFTEEN RAIL CARS piled up along the tracks in Big Lake last Saturday morning as the BNSF freighter left the rail. (Photo from Facebook).

Train derailment in Big Lake; Tracks re-open Sunday

A track has reopened in Big Lake after a train derailed near Big Lake early last weekend.

Last Saturday morning, a BNSF train derailed in Big Lake and closed off the area near the railway as crews and authorities responded to the wreckage.

The incident happened at about 3:15 a.m. Saturday and impacted 15 rail cars carrying what authorities say are “consumer goods.”

The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office said there are no reported injuries.

The crash left a stretch of 172nd St. NW between 197th Ave. and Co. Rd. 14 blocked as crews work to clear the area.

BNSF confirmed the derailment had also impacted traffic on the railway’s main lines. The incident happened just west of the Northstar Commuter Rail stop, which carries people to downtown Minneapolis.

The derailment happened in an industrial and agricultural area of Big Lake. Crews had been actively using heavy machinery to clear and repair the tracks, which opened up Sunday evening.

It was reported the train was moving along at 60 mph when it derailed. This is the third BNSF train derailment in Minnesota in the past year.

The Big Lake derailment was the company’s second of the day, with an earlier incident taking place at around 12:45 a.m. near Ottwawa, Kan. In that incident, the only cargo spilled was a large amount of corn, according to the local sheriff’s office there in Franklin County.

BNSF operates one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, with 32,500 miles of rail across the western two-thirds of the United States.