TOWN OF LOWELL (WLUK) — A train derailed Friday in rural Dodge County, leading to a crude oil leak.
Shortly after 2 p.m., the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a train derailment between Maiden Lane Road and the village of Reeseville in the town of Lowell.
Officials say the Canadian Pacific Train has a total of 95 cars and more than 30 of them derailed. The train was carrying crude oil.
“We have established that three of those cars are leaking,” said Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt at a news conference.
“Hazmat is currently on scene. We’ve been working with emergency management from Dodge County and mitigating the cars that are currently still leaking,” added Eric Howlett, chief of the Clyman-Lowell-Reeseville fire department. “There are no immediate hazards to the community.”
No injuries were reported and there are very minimal traffic impacts at this time. No evacuations were required. Residents of one home in the area voluntarily chose to leave to allow emergency crews more room to work.
Local authorities and Canadian Pacific Railroad have formed a unified command and secured the scene. Clean up is expected to begin soon.
“We are asking the public to avoid the area so that emergency crews can manage this incident. We also would like to remind the public that railroad property is private property and anyone who trespasses on railroad property may be cited or arrested for trespassing,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
This is the second train derailment in Dodge County in just over two years. Schmidt said the first occurred July 4, 2023.
“I have had conversations with [Canadian Pacific Railroad] supervisors that have shown up on scene and expressed my concerns that we’ve had two [derailments] in two years. We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again and they need to take some steps to either reduce the speed limit or change some below-grade designs. So we’ll see what they do, but we can’t have this continue,” said Schmidt.