BNSF rail line reopens after spill

March 22, 2011

After two days of around-the-clock work, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line reopened this morning after a derailment Sunday afternoon just past the Leonia Bridge in Montana shut down traffic.

 

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said the cause of Sunday's derailment, which spilled about 20-tons of Montana wheat bound for Kalama, Washington, remains under investigation, and work continues on site clean up. Trucks have been brought in, Melonas said, to vacuum up the spilled grain, and crews are working to remove 22 rail cars destroyed in the mishap, which will take several weeks.

 

Trains began moving west on the rail line early this morning, and by this afternoon, several eastbound trains that had been parked along the rail in and around Bonners Ferry were able to get underway.