Freight Train Derails in Colorado; 2 Die
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WASHINGTON — In the nation’s fifth rail tragedy this month, a California-bound Southern Pacific freight train derailed Wednesday while descending a snowy Colorado mountain. Two of three crew members were killed and battery acid spilled onto a highway.
The cause of the wreck was not known. Authorities at the site about 60 miles southwest of Denver speculated that heavy snow may have contributed to it. Julie Beale of the National Transportation Safety Board said: “It looks like another runaway freight train.” Rail officials on scene reported that the train “definitely was a runaway,” said Tammy Vavala of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Department.
The train’s two locomotives and the first 15 and the last 10 of the 82 freight cars derailed, including two tanker cars that spilled some of their 27,000 gallons of sulfuric acid. Some of the acid spilled down about 100 feet from the tracks onto Highway 24.
Two other freight trains crashed earlier this month. Two commuter trains crashed Feb. 9 in New Jersey, and an Amtrak train and a commuter crashed Friday in Maryland.
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