GILLETTE – A Burlington Northern Santa Fe train hauling coal in Wyoming derailed Sunday morning, marking the second time within 24 hours that trains belonging to the railway company went off the tracks.
Spokesman Gus Melonas says investigators at the derailments in Wyoming and Montana have ruled out sabotage but have not determined an exact cause.
The Sunday derailment on a side connection near Gillette involved 21 coal cars. Melonas says all the cars remained upright with no spillage, and that crews are working to put the cars back on the track.
He says the main line for hauling coal out of the Powder River Basin is still operating.
On Saturday afternoon, 13 freight cars on the Montana Hi-Line derailed 57 miles east of Glasgow. One was carrying metam sodium, a corrosive liquid and pesticide. Melonas says the car remained intact, but is off the track and its contents will be transferred to another car.
That line reopened Sunday morning.