BNSF oil train derails, catches fire

A BNSF Railway train loaded with crude oil derailed and caught fire in a rural area south of Galena, Ill. on March 5 around 1:20 p.m.

Dark smoke was seen for miles around the crash site, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reported two rail cars were potentially on fire.

The train had 105 loaded cars, and 103 were carrying crude oil. The derailment occurred on a major rail line along the Mississippi River that handles as many as 50 oil-trains a week, one official said.

BNSF officials reported no injuries and no evacuations. The officials didn’t know what the cause of the derailment, which occurred about 3 miles outside Galena, a town with more than 3,000 residents near Wisconsin.

Eight rail cars derailed, according to Galena city administrator Mark Moran, including six that tipped onto their side. He said emergency responders were called back to Galena as a precaution, and BNSF responders had taken over control of the site. It was not clear if oil had spilled from the tank cars.

The incident marks the latest in a series of derailments in North America and the third in three weeks involving trains hauling crude oil, which has put a heightened focus on rail safety.

Last month, a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train derailment in nearby Dubuque, Iowa, spilled ethanol fuel into the water and set three cars on fire. Dubuque, which is 14 miles to the north west of Galena, has almost 60,000 inhabitants.

In 2013, forty-seven people were killed in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, after a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded.