Monday, August 21st 2023, 5:43 pm
Moore officials said a busy street is expected to reopen sometime next week after a train derailed, prompting crews to clean up the area and make repairs.
BNSF Railway said 22 cars carrying plastic pellets derailed just before 5 p.m. Friday at the railroad crossing at Southwest 34th Street. The company told News 9 that as of Monday, the cause of the derailment remained under investigation.
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"We take what we can learn from every incident to continuously improve," a BNSF spokesperson said.
First responders said no one was hurt in the derailment and no evacuation was needed because only plastic spilled out of the cars.
"That is what we're very grateful for," said Moore Assistant City Manager Jerry Ihler.
Over the weekend, BNSF crews cleared the derailed cars from the track, allowing trains to resume travel. On Monday, BNSF remained on scene to clean up debris and repair the railroad crossing.
"They're putting in the center pieces between the rails, the concrete median or islands if you will, the concrete portion between the railroad tracks," Ihler explained.
Ihler said after BNSF is done with its work, which includes removing the rest of the derailed train cars from around the area, city crews will begin repairing the roadway approaches on both sides of the crossing.
"Then, the city will come in and remove those sections of pavement that have been damaged, and then they'll do preparation for going back and replacing the existing concrete that they removed," said Ihler. "The approaches, if you can imagine the weight of those heavy cars sliding across there, they're in very rough shape."
Following those repairs, Ihler said Southwest 34th Street at the crossing is expected to reopen sometime next week.
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