MARYSVILLE – It likely will take crews several more hours to clean up the mess left by this morning’s train derailment, officials said.
That means traffic during tonight’s commute will need to find detours around the area.
State Avenue between 116th Street and 136th Street likely will not reopen until 4 a.m., a few hours before Tuesday morning’s commute, Marysville police said.
It could take that long to clear three freight trains and a box car that jumped the tracks early Monday after hitting a semi-truck carrying a load of frozen pizzas and cheese cake that was stopped on the tracks.
No one was seriously injured, said Marysville Fire spokeswoman Stephanie Price. The semi-truck driver and one of the three-person crew aboard the train were taken to an Everett hospital as a precaution.
The collision happened about 5:45 a.m. The truck was westbound and the train was northbound. The engineer had applied the emergency brake prior to striking the truck, and the train’s whistle was blowing, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway spokesman Gus Melonas said.
The truck was straddling the rail when it was hit. The train reportedly was traveling about 49 mph in the 60 mph-zone.
The semi-truck trailer was smashed into pieces and the impact of the crash pushed the three heavy locomotive engines and one car off the track. The first engine ended up perpendicular to the line with its nose buried in a dirt embankment.
Parts of the rail were ripped up and likely will have to be replaced once the train is removed, Melonas said.
The train was headed to Vancouver, B.C. from Pasco, Wash. Three cars were loaded with general freight and 69 other cars were empty, he said.
The semi-truck was hauling frozen pizzas and cheesecakes. Boxes of the frozen food littered the tracks along State Avenue. Several people stopped by Monday to take photos of the giant train engines spilling off the tracks.
Amtrak service from Seattle to Bellingham was interrupted. Amtrak is arranging bus service for train passengers, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway. Service was expected to resume as usual Tuesday.
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