PERHAM, Minn. — No injuries were reported when a BNSF Railway train carrying mixed freight derailed at approximately 12 a.m. today (Aug. 4) near Perham, Minn. No hazardous material was involved.
BNSF did not respond to a question regarding the number of cars involved; KEYC-TV reports 13 railcars, most of them empty auto racks, derailed. The Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office initially reported two grade crossings were closed as a result of the incident, but the railroad says those have reopened.
The accident site is approximately 5 miles northwest of Perham in Gorman Township, Minn., on the railroad’s Staples Subdivision. It is about 160 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and about 60 miles southeast of Fargo, N.D.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder was affected by the derailment, with the Amtrak Alerts social media feed reporting that passengers on the eastbound and westbound trains passing through the area this morning were provided with alternate transportation between Detroit Lakes and Staples, Minn. Eastbound No. 8 is currently shown on Amtrak’s app as due in Chicago at 11:12 p.m., about 6 1/2 hours late, while westbound No. 7 is currently shown as due at Fargo, N.D., at 2:42 p.m., more than 10 hours late.
— Updated at 1:55 p.m. with additional Empire Builder information; updated at 8:55 p.m. with number of cars involved.
Ed B. You are correct about the trainmaster and roadmaster trying to determine the cause but you forgot to include the mechanical dept guy too. My thirty plus years on the railroad it was always great seeing the dept heads huddled trying to blame one of the other departments for the cause rather than there own.
I have no specific knowledge of this, but I would bet money that the decision to bus between Fargo and Staples had everything to do with Amtrak’s limited crew base. Amtrak is experiencing chronic crew shortages all over the country since the height of the pandemic, but that’s not what I’m referring to here, though it likely isn’t helping.
When you’re only running one train per day each way, not a lot of crews are regularly required, and therefore your extraboard is very limited. This was the case in Montana last month during the MRL bridge collapse. BNSF normally only runs a few trains per day on its route from Laurel to Shelby via Great Falls, but when the MRL was closed, the number desired to use the route increased by tenfold. Needless to say, there aren’t (and shouldn’t be) that many people just sitting around (and not getting paid) doing nothing waiting on a what if.
Here’s an idea of the extra crews Amtrak would have needed if both the westbound and eastbound Empire Builder trains did detour via Willmar: First of all, the outbound crew on train 7 was likely already on duty at St. Cloud. This crew would have been of no use for any detour situation since they would need to be deadheaded to Minot to protect train 8 that evening (their normal rotation). The inbound crew from Winona to St. Cloud could have had some time left, but not enough to really advance the train any meaningful distance.
So, the first extra crew would be one to take train 7 from St. Cloud (the first place where the train could be wyed since both Amtrak locomotives face west). There would also be the question on whether the Amtrak crew would be able to wye the train at St. Cloud on BNSF trackage they’re not used to occupying. (I recall one time a bus bridge from Whitefish to Spokane was performed and after train 7 arrived at Whitefish the train backed to Columbia Falls to be wyed. The Amtrak crew balked at having to operate on the wye at Columbia Falls without a freight railroad pilot! I only mention this because BNSF has no crew base – other than its two locals – at St. Cloud, so any pilots for such a move would need to come out of Northtown.) This extra crew handling train 7 back to Minneapolis from St. Cloud could likely take the train to Fargo or Grand Forks (with a BNSF pilot out of Northtown) before expiring its hours of service (depending on whether Amtrak strives to get the crew to the designated tie up location or not in 12 hours), but a second extraboard crew would be required (from St. Cloud) to take the train from wherever into Minot.
For the eastbound Empire Builder detouring between Fargo and Minneapolis, the Minot-St. Cloud crew could likely operate the train to Willmar (with BNSF pilot at Fargo), or somewhere west of there; to take the train beyond this point to Winona would require the third extra crew. (The regularly assigned St. Cloud-to-Winona crew likely could be used, but since trains lose hours on detour scenarios, this would likely create crew’s rest issues at Winona protecting train 7 there Friday evening, resulting in the need for yet another relief crew.)
So, that’s three maybe four extra crews which would be required from the Amtrak St. Cloud crew base on top of the fact that it’s August (summer) and when Minnesotans (in this case, the train and enginemen) like to go on vacation.
And then there’s other considerations like: Would there be crew vans and drivers available for all this additional activity, and would they be available for use in and out of St. Cloud? Creating crew change locations (like St. Cloud and Shelby) dramatically different from where the host railroad changes crews leads to operating challenges and one of them is van availability, especially when the host railroad is likely sucking most of the fleet up accommodating transporting crews on freight train detours.
In a detour scenario, the only thing more complex than anticipating where all the crews might be needed on your railroad is anticipating those needs of someone else’s railroad who runs on your railroad. Back in the day when passenger trains and freight trains were operated by the same company, crew utilization was much more flexible since largely the same pool of people could be used with many of them road qualified on all or most of the necessary detour routes.
So, the difficulty to spontaneously detour is simply a result of changes in the entities involved, the crew change locations, and the volume of traffic.
–Mark Meyer 17 years train/chief dispatcher (and crew therefore crew manager)
My name is Ed Burns, retired Clerk from Northtown, Mpls Terminal from 1966 to 2004 and have worked in Operating, Material, and and Engineering Departments. Many people who comment don’t understand who complex a derailment is. The trainmasters and roadmasters will try to determine a cause. My last job as the clerk to the Terminal Supt at Northtown.
As far a detouring the EB is concerned two things come to mind. One was 8/28 east of Fargo when the derailment happened? If so, then backup to Moorhead and the X-GN line was not an option. Secondly, if 7/27 was at St Cloud, then they were stuck until the track was opened. The former GN line from St Cloud to Willmar was taken up about 50 years ago. Sometimes things happens all one can due is sit and wait. This is from 38 years experience from railroading.
Ed Burns
Ed,
From what I understand the derailment near Perham happened before midnight. 8 would have been west of Grand Forks. 7 would have been in the vicinity of Northtown.
Dr there have always been derailments and if they are cleaning it up they know the cause it just isn’t being released yet.. It’s just now that the media has decided to cover them since we had a really big one with smoke and fumes and fire.
While working on cleanup, BNSF Railway is also looking into the cause of the derailment.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Being a Monday Morning Quarterback, why didn’t 7 & 8 detour via Willmar. Derailment happened before midnight, 7 wouldn’t have been that far from Northtown which is just north of Mpls Jct where the line to Willmar diverges.
I suppose I should credit Amtrak for bussing vs turning the trains and sending them back to their orgins.
Very simple; because no one at CNOC knows anything about the routes and
characteristics of the freight roads over which they operate; they only understand the NEC.
Officials say approximately 13 rail cars were involved. The rail cars are designed to carry motor vehicles and most were empty at the time of derailment, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Yet another derailment! We’re used to it now!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün