Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad officials haven’t provided many details about two northern Arizona train derailments that occurred hours apart during last week’s severe storm activity. Mojave County manager Sam Elters provided a brief update at Monday’s board of oversight meeting.
Neither incident involved any injuries or hazardous materials. The railroad initially said about eight vehicles appeared to have left the track when the first derailment occurred near the rural settlement of Topok around 7:40 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15. .
Elters told supervisors that fewer cars had left the tracks than first reported.
“Four or five cars near the head of the train derailed. Reports from the scene indicated that no hazardous materials were carried or released from these cars,” Elters said. increase. “The cause of the derailment is not yet known, but we are continuing to contact BNSF for information and to continue coordinating.”
Elters said the second derailment occurred in the early hours of Thursday, March 16, at the Kingman Airport Industrial Park. BNSF said the derailed vehicle was empty.
“The derailment involved a rail car not carrying cargo and occurred on a branch line adjacent to the main rail,” Elters said. “All the cars remained upright, there were 10 of them.”
