Train derails near Purdue aerospace center

Corn and grain spilled out of several turned over train cars near US 231 about noon Friday, blocking traffic for several hours.
The train consisted of 24 cars, three of which were turned over. No hazardous materials spilled from the cars and no one was injured, Smokey Anderson, director of Tippecanoe County Emergency Management, said.
“To have 24 cars go off the rail, (it happens) very, very rarely,” Anderson said. The train was going about 10 mph at the time of the accident.
The train and railroad are owned by Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern Railroad. The Exponent reached out to the company but have not received comment as of Friday afternoon.
“Last I knew, and that was a couple hours ago, they were going to try to bring in a couple more engines. They were going to try to back that train (up) to open State Road 26,” Anderson said Friday evening.
He said they’ll hopefully do that before Monday, when they plan to finish the accident’s cleanup.
At the intersection between the railroad stop on State Road 26, chunks of tattered wood and metal strips lay next to one of the train’s wheels. It is unknown how the destroyed railroad track was related to the accident.
“The rails are wrecked through there,” Anderson said. “The tracks are destroyed. They’ll have to rebuild that.”
"Road Closed" signs stood directly in front of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, near the Purdue Technology Center Aerospace, shortly after the incident. The railway signals will be flashing until everything is cleaned up, Anderson said.
The derailment has cut off access to several neighborhoods on State Road 26 from Mitch Daniels Blvd.
“(People) can easily go around it if they just go down Newman Road to Sharon Chapel (Road) and then right back into State Road 26,” Anderson said.
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