2 BNSF trains derail in Franzee, MN causing an evacuation!
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Those pictures are ugly!
Dog gone it! High value merchandise and trailers strewn about. Just the type of loads which I assume are lucrative for the railroads to handle.
According to the Wall Street Journal, American railroads are leaving/losing 20 to 30,000 intermodal loads per week to long haul truckers - business that could/should be the railroads'. A shortage of shipping containers was sited, but would think derailments such as this ads to the reluctance of shippers to use railroads. Sure hope our railroads can tighten up their operational issues.
@mark s posted:According to the Wall Street Journal, American railroads are leaving/losing 20 to 30,000 intermodal loads per week to long haul truckers - business that could/should be the railroads'. A shortage of shipping containers was sited, but would think derailments such as this ads to the reluctance of shippers to use railroads. Sure hope our railroads can tighten up their operational issues.
Well, I keep hearing about a trucking shortage, so that seems a little odd. Also, there are literally thousands of truck accidents every year, many of them doubtless carrying those inter-modal loads you speak of.
The concern for safety was that some of the cars were carrying lithium batteries, which can be combustible. A few nearby houses were evacuated for a few hours until it was determined there was no danger.
BTW it's "Frazee" MN. 
