REED POINT - A newly released federal report is raising fresh questions about the cause of a 2023 train derailment that sent 10 cars plummeting into the Yellowstone River about six miles east of Reed Point.
The derailment, which happened in June of 2023, shut down rail traffic for weeks. A total of 17 rail cars derailed, with 10 ending up in the river. Additionally, 419,000 pounds of asphalt petroleum liquid and 12,000 gallons of molten silver were released into the river, along with tens of thousands of pounds of scrap metal.
Watch details of the report:
MTN obtained the report conducted by the Federal Railroad Administration through a public records request. The more than 400 pages of findings have not been publicly released on the FRA’s website.
Among its key findings: the 115-year-old bridge was structurally sound at the time of the collapse. According to the report, a diver inspected the bridge’s piers following the derailment and found, “scour is not believed to be a contributing factor in the cause of the derailment or the collapse.”
The diver who conducted that inspection also told investigators, “it appears that the impact of the moving truss broke the pier off of the footing as there was no reinforcement in these old piers attaching the footing to the pier.”
Watch previous MTN coverage:
The report failed to identify any other potential causes of the derailment. Inspection records for the track and bridge were up to date. However, one finding has generated a lot of conversation: a broken rail on the east end of the bridge.
That broken rail, according to a company hired by Montana Rail Link to also investigate the derailment, happened at a spot where two sections of rail had been welded. Montana Rail Link’s investigation suggests it may have played a role in the derailment, and a photo clearly shows the gap in the tracks.
However, the Federal Railroad Administration’s report refutes that finding, saying a broken rail “typically causes a catastrophic pile-up that occurs directly near the broken rail.” The report notes that the cars directly over the broken rail were upright and the broken weld was nearly 350 feet away from the bridge collapse.
Instead, the FRA believes the weld was “likely pulled cleanly apart by the extreme forces presented by the bridge collapsing during the derailment.”
The report also rules out mechanical failure of the train.
That means, two years later, many still have questions.
Read a key portion of the report here.
The Yellowstone River Parks Association, which has long expressed concerns with the clean-up, provided MTN a new statement reacting to the release of the FRA report from Executive Director Carolyn Sevier:
“Yellowstone River Parks Association is a landowner along the Yellowstone River and a proponent for the recreational and natural resources the river provides. Our concern with the investigation outcome of the Reed Point train derailment is the lack of full transparency and accountability. The State of Montana should be using every tool at its disposal to make sure our resources are protected and, when they are damaged, fully restored. This requires strengthening laws, more strongly activating existing regulations, and increasing data-gathering and community engagement. We are concerned about ongoing damage from the incident and especially the cumulative impact of the multiple spills, pipeline breaks, and derailments that we know will continue to happen in the future.”
The FRA report also determined the train was traveling approximately 38 miles per hour at the time of the crash. The train was traveling westbound from Laurel to Missoula when it derailed.
Related:
A year later, no penalties issued for Reed Point train derailment
State: Don't eat any fish caught in waters near Reed Point train derailment
Train cars cleared from Yellowstone River near Reed Point
