KEMOSHA, Wis. -- A Union Pacific freight train derailed in Pleasant Prairie Monday afternoon, with 24 of the 113 cars coming off the track between Bain Station Road and Highway 50 west of Green Bay Road, the Kenosha News reported.
The cause of the derailment, which occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m., is still under investigation, said Mark Davis, a spokesman for Union Pacific.
No one was injured; only an engineer and conductor were on board, and the derailment happened 30 to 40 cars behind their car.
Train cars were piled up along the track, some cars torn away from their wheels. A portion of the track rail was broken and twisted.
Pleasant Prairie Fire Chief Paul Guilbert Jr. referred to the incident as "a spectacular derailment."
Davis said 20 of the 24 cars were empty. The other four were loaded with plywood, wheat and fertilizer.
A hazardous materials officer for the railroad "walked all the derailed cars, looked at each derailed car, and there is no evidence of any leaks on any of those cars," Davis said.
Pleasant Prairie Police and fire department on the scene detected a leaking liquid, but later determined it was condensation leaking from empty tanks, Pleasant Prairie Police Chief Brian Wagner said.
"The main thing is there is no hazard to the public at this time," Wagner said.
Guilbert said Union Pacific will be responsible for any cleanup. Union Pacific and Federal Rail Administration officials also will continue to investigate the cause of the derailment.
Davis said the train was on its way from the Proviso yard in Chicago to Butler, northwest of Milwaukee, when the derailment occurred. The train had five locomotives, which pulled a portion of the train away from the derailment before coming to a stop north of Highway 50.
He said crews would work through the night "to begin to not only right those rail cars but to repair any damage to the track."
According to Davis, about eight trains a day use the track. He said Union Pacific would be able to detour that traffic.
A spokesman from We Energies said the derailment was on a different track than is used for coal delivery to the utility's Pleasant Prairie and Oak Creek power plants, and deliveries to those two plants will be largely unaffected.
Bain Station Road was closed to traffic, a portion of the train blocking the road. The road was set to reopen Monday night.
Guilbert said this was only the second train-related incident on those tracks in the last 22 years.
(The preceding article by Deneen Smith was published February 9, 2010, by the Kenosha News.)
