Cleanup underway in Lee County after barge-train collision sends train cars into Mississippi River

MONTROSE — A train traveling south near Montrose collided with a barge late Saturday, derailing multiple train cars and sending two of them into the Mississippi River.

The accident happened at 11:51 p.m.

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe train derailed after striking the nose of a barge that had been parked along the shore of the Mississippi River and had turned sideways, bringing the nose of the vessel onto the main track, according to BNSF officials.

Approximately 1,400 gallons of diesel fuel was released from the train and was seeping into the Mississippi River. The two train cars that landed in the river spilled the coal they were carrying.

Six train cars and two locomotive cars derailed during the collision.

In addition to the two train cars that wound up in the river, three landed partially in the water and one of the cars remained upright, BNSF officials said.

Members of the train's crew were taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution, but Jason Dinwiddie, director of Lee County Emergency Management, said no crew members were injured.

Dinwiddie said River Road, between Montrose city limits and 320th Street, is closed while crews clean up the accident.

The road is expected to remain closed until Friday, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Drivers are asked to avoid the area.

BNSF, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard are assisting with cleanup efforts.

Dinwiddie said there is no known environmental danger to the public, but that the agencies involved in cleanup are monitoring the situation.

"BNSF responders are on scene and have cleared the remaining coal cars from the area," BNSF officials said in a statement. "Our primary focus is to address any safety issues and securely remove any coal that may have ended up in the water.”

The Montrose Fire Department and Lee County EMS, Emergency Management and Sheriff's offices assisted in the response to the incident.

Officials said Monday that most of the cleanup efforts on the train tracks was done.

Caroline Davis, environmental specialist with the Iowa DNR's Field Office 6, said that most of the coal and diesel spilled in the accident has been removed from the river.

Davis said crews were able to use boons to harness the diesel toward the shore and use a vacuum truck to suck the majority of the fuel from the water.

Davis also said crews were able to use excavation equipment and a dredging barge to remove the coal from the water.

Iowa DNR officials believe the accident will have minimal environmental impact.

Davis said Keokuk Municipal Waterworks was alerted by the BNSF hazmat team about the accident, but officials do not believe enough diesel fuel would have traveled far enough south without diluting for there to be any environmental or health concerns.

"The quantity spilled is minimal in comparison to the volume of water flow in the river," Aaron Pickens, environmental specialist with Iowa DNR, said in an email to other DNR officials.

Davis said officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Moline, Illinois, office were traveling to the site of the crash Monday to determine if the accident had any effect on any endangered mussel beds in the area.

Davis also said officials with the U.S. Coast Guard plan on interviewing crew members of the barge involved in the accident.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Coal train cars derail into river in Lee County after barge collision