A broken rail has been determined as the cause of a Union Pacific train derailment south of Moran Monday that disrupted rail service, closed a 23-mile stretch of nearby U.S. 59 and forced nearby residents to evacuate.
Rail traffic has since resumed, Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis told the Register Thursday. The highway was reopened Wednesday and the residents have long since returned to their homes.
Thirty-two of the 114-car train en route from Kansas City to Fort Worth, Texas, left the tracks in a fiery crash before sunrise Monday. The fire wasn’t fully extinguished until after crews purposely caused controlled explosions to two boxcars filled with ethylene alcohol.
Meanwhile, others repaired the 500 feet of damaged track.
The broken track will be taken to a Union Pacific lab to be studied further to determine the cause of the failure, Davis said. Everything from the density of the solid steel track to the temperature at the time of the accident and the ground’s moisture level will be considered.
Davis noted that the entire rail line undergoes a visual inspection on a nearly daily basis.
“If it’s not every day, it’s at least every other day,” he said.
In addition, more extensive inspections occur on an annual basis, by using an electronic current that helps determine the density and potential cracks or other failures in the steel rails.
“They’re going to fully analyze how that rail broke,” Davis said.
It will take up to two weeks to clear the wreckage entirely, Davis said. Boxcars that can be repaired onsite will be placed on the track and removed. Others will be disassembled there and hauled away.
An average of 20 trains a day run along the tracks, Davis said.
“There’s no way we could have done the repairs as quickly as we did without the help of Allen County’s emergency responders,” Davis said.
Official: Broken rail caused train crashOfficial: Broken rail caused train crash
