Track reopened after Chicago-bound train wreck

By Quad-City Times | Monday, January 30, 2006

SPOKANE, Wash. — A damaged stretch of single main railroad track in eastern Washington state — closed for repairs after an Amtrak train derailment — reopened after about 30 hours on Sunday morning.

The first train to use the repaired track was an empty eastbound grain train, said Seattle-based Gus Melonas with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, which owns and maintains the track.

There were no serious injuries when the Chicago-bound Amtrak passenger train derailed early Saturday about 45 miles west of Spokane. BNSF crews had the locomotive and four cars rerailed by nightfall, and then worked through the night to repair the track, Melonas said. The passenger cars were placed on a siderail in nearby Sprague for assessment and repair, he said.

The derailed train was covering the Empire Builder route between Chicago and Portland, Ore., which offers one eastbound and one westbound train daily. Passengers from the derailed train were bused to Spokane hotels before dawn Saturday and took the Saturday night train to the Midwest.