East Galesburg crossing still closed after BNSF derailment; cause still being investigated

Samuel Lisec, Galesburg Register-Mail
·1 min read

EAST GALESBURG — The State Street railroad crossing in East Galesburg remains closed until further notice after a BNSF freight train carrying 18 cars derailed here Aug. 2.

Village of East Galesburg Acting Mayor Darrell Corbin said debris around the tracks is still being cleared and the crossing itself will need to be fixed because its concrete was damaged by the derailment.

Benjamin Wilemon, community affairs manager for BNSF, wrote in an email that the company's engineering team estimates the crossing will reopen next week. Wilemon wrote that the engineering team is waiting for crossing panels to arrive so they can begin work.

Corbin encouraged people not to try to drive through town.

Derailed railroad cars are seen from First Street, east of State Street in East Galesburg. The State Street railroad crossing in East Galesburg is closed as the result of a train derailment Tuesday evening. No injuries were reported. According to the Knox County Sheriff's Department, deputies responded to the derailment of a train belonging to BNSF around 9 p.m. Tuesday. The train was traveling eastbound and left the tracks east of the crossing at State Street.

“We still have access from one side to the other but only the townspeople know where the roads are,” Corbin said. “We don't want to make that public where we have everybody coming through just to do a little sight-seeing. We're trying to deter people away from here because there's so much equipment, we don't want somebody to get injured."

Corbin also said he was told the derailment may have been caused by an axle on one of the train cars breaking. Wilemon wrote that the cause of the derailment is under investigation.

Wilemon said BNSF engineering teams completed repairs to the first main track on Aug. 4 and reopened the second main track on Aug. 5.

“In both cases after reopening, we operate trains at lower speeds over the repaired track and perform inspections to ensure safety and stability. We do this several times before incrementally increasing the speeds, while continuing to perform safety inspections after each train passes,” Wilemon wrote.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: East Galesburg crossing still closed after BNSF train derailment