Part of a Canadian National Railway train left the tracks in Dubuque this morning near the Mississippi River. Dubuque city spokesperson, Randy Gehl, says no one was injured in the accident.
He says there were nine cars involved and several of the cars that carried ethanol turned on their side. Gehl says they were lucky that the cars stayed intact after derailing. “There was no ethanol that leaked out, obviously that was a concern, it is a combustible liquid obviously,” Gehl says, “also with this location, these rail tracks are down near our riverfront very close to the ice harbor, so any time an accident like this occurs along the river, contamination is a concern as well.”
Gehl says work is already underway to clean up the derailment. He says crews arrived around 8:30 this morning to put the cars back on the track and he believes they will not have to be emptied before they can be put back up on the track. Gehl says the derailment did create some traffic backups this morning.
Gehl says highways 151, 61 and 52 are all in the area and the northbound lane has been closed and is expected to be closed most of the day in what he says is a very busy area of the downtown. Gehl is not sure what caused the derailment.