Train fuel tank punctured; 2,000 gallons spilled

BEND, Ore. — Investigators are looking into the possibility somebody sabotaged a train in downtown Bend on Tuesday by setting a piece of railroad track in a position to puncture a locomotive fuel tank.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas says about 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled as the train moved along at 30 mph, including some that went onto a road beneath an overpass, and some at two railroad crossings. Nobody was injured, and a cleanup was underway.

The rail line was shut down at about 11 a.m., and reopened by 12:30 p.m.

There were two locomotives and three cars in the train, which was making a run from nearby Prineville with cement and propane, Melonas said. The piece of track tore the bottom of the fuel tank, and the train crew felt the impact and stopped.

The line carries up to three trains per month that are filled with oil from North Dakota being hauled to refineries in California.

Melonas said he did not know how the piece of track came to be where someone could set it against the locomotive fuel tank. It was not from a nearby section of the rail line.

The locomotive was sent to a local facility for repairs and then would go to another location for permanent rapairs, Melonas said.