Broken rail now believed to be culprit in fatal train derailment north of Pueblo; I-25 remains closed in both directions (kktv.com) This has been major news locally both for the fatality involved and for the continuing closure of the Interstate.
When I was working - the number of times a train in signaled territory would leave a track circuit lit after it had departed the track segment and when the anomaly was investigated by signals/MofW and was found to be a Broken Rail. Such a occurrence is proof that the rail broke under traffic of the train. There but for the grace of God was a derailment that didn't happen. During the first cold snap of the Fall, it was not uncommon to have five to ten track circuits left on over the breadth of my territory.
Believe it's BNSF tracks, one or both probably part of the Joint Line. Unsure about maintenance status.
I saw the I-25 derailment in my news feed this morning. News reported it was a BNSF train and I'm guessing that is along the Joint Line so could be BNSF or UP trackage. Sounds like the crew was okay but prayers for the family of the truck driver that died.
