WARREN, Mich. (AP) — A freight train derailment sent more than a dozen rail cars off the tracks Thursday morning near Detroit, snarling traffic while emergency responders assessed the damage, officials said.
Warren Fire Commissioner Wilburt McAdams said 13 of the CN freight train’s 151 cars derailed about 7:30 a.m. EDT in the city just north of Detroit.
No injuries were reported following the derailment on Warren's southeast side.
McAdams said three of the 13 derailed cars were tanker cars hauling liquid chlorine and unrefined alcohol, but those tanker cars had remained upright.
He said a tanker car carrying alcohol was leaking a little, but did not pose a danger to the public.
McAdams said a section of tracks near the derailment area is bowed. He said it remains unclear whether those tracks caused the derailment or if one or more of the rail cars' wheels had malfunctioned and damaged the tracks, causing the derailment.
The city's police commissioner, Bill Dwyer, urged motorists and the public to avoid the derailment area “so that crews can work to clear the derailment as fast as possible."
Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said the derailment caused traffic backups in the area and he hoped the cleanup is completed by late Friday or early Saturday.
