No injuries in Sunday night train derailment

By Brandi Makuski

Fire crews were called to the CN railyard near Patch St. and Michigan Ave. on Sunday afternoon to help address what was described as a possible gas leak.

When crews arrived at 5:59 p.m., they found several CN train cars had been derailed, with three cars completely off the train tracks and tipped to about a 45-degree angle, with at least one additional car also tilted.

The derailment was limited to the railyard on the north side of County Materials Corp., also known as County Concrete, 2000 Patch St. in Stevens Point.

A Stevens Point fire engine was present for just under two hours as a precaution, as the derailment occurred near a 1,500-gallon fuel tank belonging to County Concrete. No hazmat or ambulance crews were called to the scene.

SPFD Capt. Dennis Zvara said there were no injuries, and CN will deal with the derailed cars late Sunday night.

“Their plan is, they’ve got a crew coming in from Minneapolis and a crew coming in from Chicago, they should be here with cranes at 11:30 or 12, and they’ll start working probably about one o’clock in the morning, flipping [the cars] back up,” Zvara said.

Zvara added there were no concerns for public safety as a result of the accident, which he said CN was “still investigating on their end”.

Although some cars were labeled as transporting various types of fuel, Patrick Waldron, senior media relations manager for CN in Quebec, Canada, says he believes the derailed cars were empty.

“There are no injuries, and they’ll have the cars back on the rail sometime this evening,” Waldron said via phone.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.