FELA Lawyer News Blog

GREAT FALLS, MT. -  Two BNSF employees were injured on Tuesday, July 19, on Gerber Road just southeast of Great Falls, Montana when a freight train rear-ended another train causing 13 of 110 BNSF Railway cars with three locomotives to derail.

The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating the cause of the crash at this time.

The FRA, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, dispatched a team from a Vancouver, Wash.-based regional office to investigate the derailment, Spokesman Rob Kulat said stating that the investigation could take up to nine months.

Great Falls Tribune reports:

Initially, BNFS reported to the National Response Center that 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the train but that amount wasn’t accurate, said Daniel Kenny, an enforcement specialist with the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The National Response Center is the federal point of contact for reporting hazardous material spills.

On Monday, BNFS Spokesman Gus Melonas said the company’s own investigation shows that 79 gallons was released from the fuel tank, not 1,000 as originally estimated.

The tank had a capacity of 4,000 gallons, but it wasn’t full when it was ruptured in the collision, Melonas said. The spill amount of 79 gallons was calculated by determining when the train last fueled, how much fuel had been at the time of the collision and examination in the field, he said.

“The soil has been remediated and backfilled,” Melonas said.

BNFS, which is required to detail its cleanup in a report to the DEQ within 90 days, has not disclosed the reason for the collision. The rail line is back in service.

“We’re continuing to investigate the situation to determine exactly what happened,” Melonas said.

According to the Billings Gazette, Melonas did not know the extent of the railroad worker’s injuries or the speed of the freight train.

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FELA Lawyer News Blog is a FELA, train accident and personal injury blog that publishes up to date train accidents, train derailments and FELA legal news from across the United States. The Federal Employers ‘Liability Act, (FELA) allows injured railroad workers to recover compensation based on the negligence of the railroad company, in lieu of workers’ compensation. FELA defines negligence as the railroad company’s failure to use reasonable care.

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