2 trains collide in Winona County; cars fall into river

2 trains collide in Winona County; cars fall into river A 1,000-gallon liquid propane tank near the tracks was leaking, and nitrogen was leaking from one of the trains that derailed in the 5:30 a.m. crash near Dresbach, officials say. Two freight trains collided head-on before dawn this morning in extreme southeastern Minnesota, sending some of the derailed cars into the Mississippi River, authorities said. A 1,000-gallon liquid propane tank stationed next to the tracks in Dresbach and used to heat a switching station was leaking, as was liquid nitrogen from one of the trains, said spokesman Dave Belz of Winona County Emergency Management. The nitrogen is not considered a health hazard, Belz said, but the propane leak has prompted officials to evacuate the 15 residents from a nearby veterans home "because of wind shifts." Two train crew members were taken to a hospital but only as a precaution, said Mike LoVecchio, a spokesman for Calgary-based Canadian Pacific, the railway that operates the two trains. "We are not counting them as injuries." LoVecchio said 18 or 19 cars derailed. Authorities on the scene said the number was closer to 40. Emergency Management Deputy Director Joyce Tlougan, said, one of the engines is in the river, "not totally submerged, but it is in there." The north-south tracks run parallel to the river and Interstate Hwy. 90, where traffic continued to flow normally, Belz said. The tracks are about 20 to 30 feet up a slight embankment from the river, he said. At that spot, LoVecchio said, there is a siding (tracks that act as a passing lane). "How these two trains made contact with each other is obviously part of the investigation," he said. "We will be doing a comprehensive investigation and cooperating fully with the investigating authorities." La Crescent Fire Chief Bernie Buehler, the incident commander, said one train coming from Portage, Wis., was pulling 100 cars, and the other was coming from La Crescent, Minn., with 15 cars. Belz said this is the first crash of this type "that I'm aware of" in his 30 years in law enforcement in the area. With the arrival of daybreak, Belz said, emergency personnel turned their immediate attention to containing the leaks and retrieving the cars in the river. Dresbach is about 150 miles southeast of the Twin Cities. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

 

Sounds like a giant mess!!! I also saw online somewhere that there were cars in the river leaking amonia... I was hoping that a TV station here in Des Moines would send there chopper up there and take some video but thats wishful thinking...For now we will just hope that the 2 crews are ok and lucky that they walked away from this one.

 

kstp.com - 2 trains derail near Winona

Frank

 

That one SOO engine at the end of the clip looks pretty trashed.

 

"the collision was caused by a possible switcher problem" LOL

looks like it occurred right by, or at, the switch to the passing siding... at least from what I can see in the vid.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Dresbach,+Minnesota&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.483365,89.560547&ie=UTF8&ll=43.885065,-91.333916&spn=0.002656,0.005466&t=h&z=18

If both trains were northbound.. one ran into the side of the other? Hmm..

does this mean CP & Amtrak on the BN for a while?

 

Thanks for the video link....WOW!! Alot of destruction there.