Mudslide derails BNSF train near Everett
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - A mudslide has derailed a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train just south of Everett.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide came off a 100-foot slope and struck the train at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, in the same area where a slide covered the tracks earlier in the day. Seven cars were derailed.
Witness Ricky Ivelia saw the whole thing unfold.
"I saw the hill start to go. It went down and hit the first car and it tipped over, then more cars kept tipping over. It was crazy how loud it was and how slow it all happened," he said.
The cars were carrying various types of freight, including small packages of disinfectant and chemicals used in cleaning supplies and fertilizer.
Melonas says a hazardous materials team did respond, but there is no threat to the environment or public health.
The tracks are expected to remain closed for freight trains at least until tomorrow, and Amtrak and Sound Transit Sounder passenger trains must observe a 48-hour safety moratorium before then can resume travel.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide came off a 100-foot slope and struck the train at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, in the same area where a slide covered the tracks earlier in the day. Seven cars were derailed.
Witness Ricky Ivelia saw the whole thing unfold.
"I saw the hill start to go. It went down and hit the first car and it tipped over, then more cars kept tipping over. It was crazy how loud it was and how slow it all happened," he said.
The cars were carrying various types of freight, including small packages of disinfectant and chemicals used in cleaning supplies and fertilizer.
Melonas says a hazardous materials team did respond, but there is no threat to the environment or public health.
The tracks are expected to remain closed for freight trains at least until tomorrow, and Amtrak and Sound Transit Sounder passenger trains must observe a 48-hour safety moratorium before then can resume travel.
So why didn`t the man filming contact the railway authorities instead of standing there filming! Wanted to be the centre of attention after capturing the shot?
The two minute raw video by John Hill of this incident is posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeT0m-hpD_4.  It's quite dramatic in showing how the slide developed, and also in revealing Mr. Hill's brief discomfort when he thought the rail cars might move sideways to his location from which he was shooting the video.
Tax payers spent 60 million dollars on a grant to fix the problem of 70 mud slides last year and it looks like we are going to break the record this year. Â How are we supposed to get an additional 18 heavy coal trains per day to Cherry Point if climate change caused by the coal burning keeps increasing the mud slides? Â It is like we are shoveling stuff against the tide.
Hmm, seems to me that if he heard strange noises earlier and he knew enough to be at the appropriate spot when the train happened by, wouldn't a better course of action be to alert the proper authorities so that the trains don't pass the spot or at least aware of it? What if it was a passenger train?
What if this had happened when the Sounder was passing through :-(
Anyone have a Goolge Map coordinate of the exact location of this slide.
 @ronj@hmamail.comÂ
47deg 58'20.7" N, 122deg 13'37.9" W
In that area, it looks like they could move the mainline tracks away from the base of the slope and put the siding tracks next to the hill. Why have your tracks in the path of slides if you can move them further out of harms way?
 @rockguy The siding is for switching moves from the port.  If it's on the other side, then they would have to use the main track to switch or block the mains while using the siding.
Man, I figured after all these slides the past few years that stretch between Seattle and Everett must have leveled out by now. Guess I was wrong...
Amazing how those massive chunks of steel can twist like a pretzel.
One would think that after decades of this during the rainy season, we could figure it out.
When did we last elect a conservative Governor?
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Still too stoopid I guess.
 @bobalouie I'm afraid I fail to see the relation between this and the Governor.
 @bobalouie It's BNSF not the Governor!
"before then can resume travel"
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"before [THEY] can resume travel" proof read please!
Right on!Â
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Bring on the coal trains! What could go wrong? (sarcasm)
@HonkeyCat Well, given that virtually everything that is shipped by train, truck, car, ship, or pipeline is at risk of something happening, and given that much of that is stuff that people don't want around them, I think the only solution is to return to the dark ages. Unless, of course, you can somehow control mother nature, acts of God, and stupid people doing stupid things - all at the same time.
this seems to happen after just about any decent storm...
"There were no immediate reports of injuries, and it was not clear what had caused the train to derail."
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It does not take a genius to figure out a landslide caused the derailment.....
 @JeepRex yup....*looks at picture of dirt over tracks where train should be*
 @Jalharad Yea, they updated the story since I posted. Seeing this story makes you wonder what kind of journalism degree you need to work for KOMO?
 @Zoso "By KOMO Staff and Associated Press" Komo is the last check and balance prior to this story being published. They do not need to print what the AP says since they are not a local focus. Chances are, the AP got this story from a local source anyway.
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 @JeepRex Maybe you better save that journalism degree for the Associated Press since they're the ones who wrote the story.
@JeepRex ..beat me to it!!!!