Two CN crew members injured after freight train derails in Wisconsin

SLINGER, Wis. – Dozens of residents have returned to their homes in a small Wisconsin community after a CN Rail freight train derailed and collided with a Wisconsin Southern train, causing a fuel spill.

Crews were working to clear the tracks Monday after the derailment that left two CN crew members with non-life-threatening injuries.

Fire officials in the village of Slinger in southeastern Wisconsin evacuated the residents Sunday night due to concerns that diesel fuel spilled from a locomotive’s fuel tank would catch fire.

CN spokesman Patrick Waldron says it’s estimated that about 4,000 gallons, or 15,000 litres, of diesel fuel had spilled from the locomotive fuel tank.

He says the two injured crew members were a locomotive engineer and a conductor and that they were taken to a local hospital, but there were no immediate details on their condition.

Waldron says three southbound CN locomotives and three cars carrying frack sand derailed and struck cars from Wisconsin & Southern that were carrying steel, lumber and plastic pellets.

The CN train was travelling from Fond du Lac, Wis., to Champaign, Ill.

Fire Chief Rick Hanke says a total of 10 railcars from both trains derailed, and some of the lumber spilled.

Slinger is about 55 kilometres northwest of Milwaukee.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the incident.