RAILforum: Canadian National wreck in Mississippi sidetracks city of New Orleans

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Posted by Trainsandmore (Member # 896) on :

Trainsmag.com just reported that a Canadian National/Illinois Central derailment near Betonia, Miss., yesterday afternoon forced Amtrak to bus CITY OF NEW ORLEANS passengers south of Memphis, Tenn.

The southbound 131-car CN/IC train, headed from Memphis to Baton Rouge, La., derailed 41 cars about two miles north of Bentonia, spokesman Jack Burke said. No one was injured in the wreck, which occurred around 12:45 p.m. yesterday. Several hazardous materials cars were involved, buut none was leaking and no lading had been released, Burke said. The derailment began with the 15th car in the train, he said.

Amtrak's southbound CITY OF NEW ORLEANS terminated at Memphis yesterday, spokesman Howard Reifs said. Its equipment will be used for today's northbound train 58, he said.

Passengers were bused to destinations between Memphis and New Orleans, Reifs said. Bus service was provided between those points today, as well.

CN, meanwhil, was rerouting freight traffic over its parallel Grenada subdivision between Jackson, Miss., and Memphis. The railroad expects to have the line reopened arouned midnight tonight.

Posted by reggierail (Member # 26) on :

I'll be on the northbound City of N.O. next Friday 5-18, I believe a lot of that line is now single track.
Reggie

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Posted by royaltrain (Member # 622) on :

If CN can reroute its trains, why can't
Amtrak do the same? Why should all those passengers have to put up with the dreaded bus for such a long distance? One wonders sometimes if Amtrak is a rail carrier or a bus company.