Crews Clear Wreckage of Derailment
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (AP) _ Crews today were cleaning up wreckage
from a freight train derailment in which two cars packed with
General Motors vehicles burst into flames.
Only two people were aboard the 97-car Canadian National
Railroad train on Sunday when more than 40 of its cars jumped the
tracks. Neither person was injured.
The accident left crumpled freight cars tipped on their sides,
and two of the cars burst into flames minutes after the derailment.
Others had holes torn in their sides where onlookers could see
new GM trucks tossed about inside.
Gloria Combes, a Canadian National official, said replacing the
train's cargo will be ``very costly.'' A precise damage estimate
wasn't available.
``Most of those (freight) cars were fully loaded with cars. We
are very concerned about that,'' she said.
The derailment also interrupted Amtrak train service between
Chicago and Pontiac.
The engineer was trying to slow down just before the train
jumped the tracks, said Deputy Birmingham Police Chief Richard
Patterson.
``It looks like during that process of slowing down there was a
lockup of some type, maybe it was an equipment failure of some
kind,'' Patterson told The Oakland Press of Pontiac.
Hazardous materials teams responded to the scene because as many
as five freight cars were carrying toxic materials, but cars were
later found to be intact, authorities said.
The train was en route from Pontaic to Flat Rock.
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