BNSF Suffers South Dakota Bridge Collapse (Updated June 26)

Screenshot of a KITV drone video.

At approximately 11:00 PM Central Time June 23, amid the heatwave, torrential rain and flooding plaguing the Midwest in recent days, the center span of BNSF’s Aberdeen Subdivision bridge over the Big Sioux River in South Dakota collapsed. The location is North Sioux City, just northwest of Sioux City (which is served by BNSF’s Sioux City Subdivision and a Union Pacific subdivision of the same name). Track washouts in the region are disrupting BNSF traffic. The railroad on June 25 issued a service recovery update for the region as well as for northeast Wyoming, site of a derailment, and Minnesota.

“We have been monitoring the region through our increased track inspections and had not been operating over the bridge at North Sioux City as a precaution, given conditions,” BNSF Director of External Communications Kendall Sloan said. “All trains are being rerouted via Creston, Iowa. We will continue to monitor and inspect conditions in the area and execute recovery operations as needed.”

“The Big Sioux River crested around 3:30 a.m. Sunday at about 44.98 feet,” KTIV reported June 24. “That crest came several hours sooner than expected and also came in several feet higher than predicted. The amount of rain this region has seen in the past few weeks is wreaking havoc throughout the area. Losing this rail passage between South Dakota and Iowa is a devastating blow to this region. And state officials said … it will likely be months before this line is open again.”

BNSF: “Service Recovery in Northeast Wyoming and Flooding Restoration Efforts Continue in Parts of Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota”

“BNSF experienced a derailment affecting the main track near Clearmont, Wyoming approximately 45 miles east of Sheridan, Wyo.,” the railroad said late on June 25. ”Engineering and repair teams are on site and the track is estimated to reopen tomorrow morning. With flooding in parts of Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota impacting our ability to reroute impacted traffic, customers with shipments designated to move in or out of the Pacific Northwest, to or through the Denver or Kansas City regions should expect delays until operations have normalized. BNSF teams have made considerable progress with track repair in parts of Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota impacted by record flooding. Continued storms in the region have prevented repair work in some areas. However, water levels have receded in certain locations, and we expect to restore service to the Marshall, Canton and Carson subdivisions later this week.

“Repair materials and equipment are staged in multiple locations across the impacted areas and belt trains are moving both north and south around the clock to bring in ballast, the main components for the tracks on which BNSF trains operate, to repair the track. Some locations, including the bridge repair in North Sioux City, S.Dak. across the Big Sioux River, will require more extensive repair work before service can be restored.While BNSF operating teams are re-routing some trains, we have issued some temporary embargoes to proactively manage traffic flows through this impacted area.”