First Freight Trains Roll Past Fridley Derail Site; Northstar Not Yet

Only two and a half days since a , MN, the first Burlington Northern Santa Fe train rolled over the damaged bridge, track and roadbed Monday night.

The first train passed the site of the derailment at 10 p.m. Monday, with a second freight train passing at 10:30 p.m.

No Northstar Tuesday a.m. or for Twins
But Northstar Commuter Rail trains will not make the same trip Tuesday morning or for the Tuesday evening Minnesota Twins game . Instead buses will carry passengers from every Northstar station except Fridley Station, which will remain closed.

On Tuesday evening commuters may find themselves on buses again—or trains, if the track is ready—for their trips from downtown Minneapolis, according to Metro Transit.

Repairs Continue
Once the first freight trains cleared the repaired track and bridge Monday night, heavy equipment moved back into place to continue work on repairing a second pair of tracks damaged in the Saturday morning incident.

Crews have worked around the clock since Saturdayin near-record heat and humidity to clear the site and fix the tracks.

A total of 18 cars including an engine left the rails Saturday at about 7:15 a.m., when the northbound freight train met a washed-out roadbed at Rice Creek at the east end of Locke Lake.

The train's engineer and conductor suffered minor injuries. The spilled cars and locomotive dumped diesel fuel and corn into the creek.