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Oil train derails, spills diesel in Wisconsin

A freight train carrying diesel oil struck another freight train in a small Wisconsin village late Sunday, injuring two and spilling thousands of gallons of diesel oil. The diesel oil spill also prompted the evacuation of dozens of homes.

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Rick Wilking/Reuters/File
An oil train moves past the loading rack at a facility in Ft. Laramie, Wyoming in this file photo. A freight train carrying diesel oil derailed as it rolled through a small village in Wisconsin late Sunday.
  • By Associated Press

| SLINGER, Wisconsin

A Canadian National Railway Co. train struck another freight train as it rolled through a small village in Wisconsin, causing cars to derail, injuring two people and spilling thousands of gallons of diesel oil that prompted the evacuation of dozens of homes.

The southbound Canadian National train struck several Wisconsin & Southern Railroad cars around 8:30 p.m. Sunday at a rail crossing in Slinger, according to Patrick Waldron, a Canadian National spokesman.

Three engines and 10 railcars derailed, Slinger Fire Chief Rick Hanke said. Slinger is northwest of Milwaukee.

An engineer and conductor on the Canadian National train were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, Waldron said Monday.

About 5,000 gallons (1,890 liters) of diesel spilled from a locomotive fuel tank, Hanke said. Hazardous materials crews placed booms around the spilled fuel and crews worked to upright the derailed cars Monday morning.

Some 100 people who live near the crash site were evacuated from their homes as a precaution but they were allowed to return around 1:30 a.m., Hanke said.

Details about the cause of the crash were not available early Monday. Waldron could not say if the Wisconsin & Southern train was stationary at the time of the collision. A representative for Wisconsin & Southern could not immediately be reached.

Waldron said the Canadian National train was headed from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, to Champaign, Illinois.

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