Burlington Northern Sante Fe crews clear the tracks
Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad company crews spent the better part of Tuesday clearing three cars that overturned just south of downtown Wichita.
It happened about 5:19 in the morning. No toxic chemicals posed a health hazard to the public. There were no evacuations. Bulldozers and cranes were brought in to remove the overturned cars off the tracks. The Kansas and Oklahoma two-mile long freight train wrecked on the BNSF tracks. A damage estimate was not immeadiately available at the scene. No one was injured. Traffic was blocked with barricades for hours on Mead from Gilbert, Indianapolis and Orme. The cause of the derailment is not known.
(KFDI News, John Wright)
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Crews were still making repairs to railroad tracks in downtown Wichita after a train derailment early Tuesday. Burlington Northern Santa Fe crews were working throughout the day to remove the cars that went off the tracks.
An employee of Union Pacific contacted 911 emergency dispatchers to report three tanker cars derailed in the area of Gilbert and St. Francis around 5 a.m.
Emergency personnel arrived and discovered one car was leaking sodium hydroxide, a caustic lye.
"One of the train cars does have a minor leak," said Wichita Police Sergeant Brian Sigman. "There are no public safety concerns, according to the railroad folks."
Traffic was blocked on St. Francis from Indianapolis to Gilbert. Sigman said the traffic issue could have been much worse.
"One of the railroad guys said this train was approximately two miles long," he said. "That would cause quite a havoc. This is one time that having those elevated tracks is definitely paying off for us."
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