December 1st, 2010 | 
Author: CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – On Tuesday, November 30, 2010 an Iowa Northern Railway derailed in downtown Cedar Rapids, IA spilling a load of corn on the roadway and tying up traffic.
Rail cars derail in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa spilling corn on the roadway.
Cedar Rapids is located in Linn County, Iowa in the east-central part of the state, about 128 miles northeast of Des Moines.
At least three rail cars cars jumped the tracks in the mishap. The derailment occurred around 8:40 a.m. near the railroad crossing on Third Street SE located south of Eighth Avenue SE.
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Officials said that the train was carrying grain and was heading into downtown Cedar Rapids to change cars.
The mishap caused traffic on three major downtown streets to be shut down. Later on in the day one of them re-opened but two of them were still closed.
Officials also said one of the rail cars overturned and spilled a load of corn near the intersection of Ninth Avenue SE and Third Street.
Location of Iowa Northern train derailment in downtown Cedar Rapids, IA.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident and there were no hazardous materials involved and there appears to be no other reports of property damage. No information was available as to how many railroad workers were on the train at the time.
A crane service was called in to set the rail cars back on the track. Sections of the railroad track that were damaged in the incident were owned by CRANDIC Railway (Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway) and Iowa Northern was using the tracks to transport grain to an ethanol plant in southwest Cedar Rapids.
The cause of the derailment has not yet been determined.
Published by FELA lawyer Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP
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