Heat causes coal train to derail

A crew from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway were in Bourbon County Tuesday and Wednesday to clean up the damage of a coal train which went off the tracks on 230th Street just South of Hackberry Road.

Bourbon County Emergency Manager Keith Jeffers said he was notified of the derailment at approximately 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, by Bourbon County Sheriff Ron Gray. He added the crews had the damaged rail cars off the tracks by 2 a.m. and had the tracks back open by Wednesday afternoon.

Jeffers said the derailment was caused by the expansion of the rails due to the excessive heat. He added, crew members told him that this is not the first time this year they have seen it happen.

"That's what's going to happen in this heat," Jeffers said.

According to Jeffers, after the site has been cleaned up, BNSF will repair the damaged ground caused by their heavy equipment and replant the grass.