Rail Line Closed After Trains Sideswipe

An eastbound freight train sideswiped another freight on a siding near West Glacier early Saturday, and wreckage of several derailed cars blocked the main line.

No one was injured and no hazardous materials were involved, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, from Seattle.

He said the three locomotives of the train on the siding were damaged, and five container cars on the eastbound train were derailed.

Melonas said railroad crews expect to have the line cleared and trains running again late this morning. In the meantime, Amtrak has indicated its trains will turn around at Havre and Whitefish and passengers will be bused between the towns.

Lumber from the eastbound train speared into the cab of one locomotive on the parked train, but that train’s crew members were out of the locomotive as a safety procedure, Melonas said.

The crash occurred about five miles east of West Glacier, just west of Glacier National Park and in the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.