Rail crews resume cleanup after NW Indiana train derailment

GARY, Ind. (AP) - Crews resumed cleanup work Thursday in northwest Indiana, a day after a freight train derailment sent 20 rail cars flying off the tracks along a highway, officials said.

No injuries were reported following Wednesday's partial derailment in Gary, which left train wheels strewn along the tracks with cars tipped over and smashed, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

Norfolk Southern spokesman Jeff DeGraff said 20 cars came off the tracks about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday when the eastbound train with two locomotives hauling 132 rail cars derailed.

The train had departed from Chicago and was en route to Elkhart when it derailed along U.S. 12, he said.

The train included tank cars marked with hazardous materials placards. But none of the tank cars appeared to have sustained damage and DeGraff said a hazardous materials response team was not called to the derailment scene, located near the Indiana Dunes National Park.

The derailment had no effect on visitors' access Wednesday to the park, but park officials were still assessing whether any park resources were damaged, said spokesman Bruce Rowe,

Norfolk Southern are investigating the cause of the derailment, while personnel and contractors continued work to return the cars to the tracks and assess damage to those tracks, DeGraff said.