Interstate 25 likely will be shut down for several days — and potentially much longer — after 30 train cars derailed north of Pueblo, collapsing a rail bridge over the highway, state and federal officials said Monday.
A truck driver was killed Sunday after 30 train cars derailed and spilled both cars and coal across I-25 just before 3:30 p.m. at a location four miles north of Pueblo, between mile markers 106 and 107. The incident, which involved a BNSF Railway coal train, forced an extended closure of the major north-south arterial.
Gary Cutler, spokesperson for the Colorado State Patrol, said Sunday that the railroad bridge over the highway collapsed as the train derailed, but officials weren’t sure what caused the derailment yet.
There was still no estimate on when I-25 would reopen. Shailen Bhatt, the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, said in an interview that federal investigators needed to complete their on-site inspection before the interstate can be cleared and reopened. He said that would take “at least some days” before that happened.
He referenced a Colorado Department of Transportation timeline that the road may not be cleared for “days to weeks.”
“Just being down here, you see all of the coal from the overturned train cars — it is a significant recovery effort,” said Bhatt, a Biden administration official who served as CDOT’s executive director until 2017.
He said the equipment needed to clear debris is already in place and waiting, once the early stages of the federal investigation are complete. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Monday afternoon that after the state receives the green light from investigators, “the debris removal phase could take as long as 48 hours.”
Polis said state officials’ “immediate priority is safely getting the highway open both ways.” But with the National Transportation Safety Board in control of the site, he cautioned that reopening it will take time.
“I am ensuring that we are doing everything we can to complete (debris removal) more quickly, including beginning preparations now so we can begin as soon as we are allowed to and save precious hours,” Polis said.
He said he was “saddened that a life was lost in this train derailment and send my condolences to his family and loved ones.”
In a Sunday evening news conference, Major Brian Lyons with the state patrol said that the driver of a semitrailer that was caught under the bridge when it collapsed was killed.
The trucker was headed northbound and became trapped when the train cars fell from the bridge on top of his 18-wheeler.
The Pueblo County Coroner’s Office on Monday identified the truck driver as Lafollette Henderson, 60, of Compton, California.
Preliminary reports from BNSF indicate that 30 coal cars derailed off of the bridge, collapsing the structure, NTSB spokesperson Sarah Sulick said.
According to a Monday news release from CDOT, six to seven of those cars and the coal they were carrying scattered across both lanes of I-25.
In an emailed statement to The Denver Post on Monday, BNSF Communications Director Kendall Kirkham Sloan said no injuries to the train’s crew have been reported and BNSF personnel are working on site to help clear the incident as safely as possible.
According to data from the Federal Railroad Administration, BNSF has had 177 derailments so far in 2023 — the most among railroad companies in the country — and had 282 derailments last year.
The interstate was officially closed in both directions between exits 104 and 106 around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the state patrol announced on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
The state patrol expects an extended closure to remove the train cars and coal from the roadway, Cutler said.
As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, officials had no estimate on when the interstate would reopen, CDOT’s news release stated.
According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, multiple law enforcement and first responder agencies responded to the scene, and travelers should avoid the area.
Both Pueblo’s and Colorado Springs’s Fire Departments have confirmed they have units on scene.
Cutler said a detour route has been established while the interstate remains closed.
Motorists headed north to Colorado Springs should exit at Highway 50 and go west to Penrose and Highway 115 North until they pass the closure. Those traveling south to Pueblo should take exit 110 onto a county road that runs parallel to I-25 and into Pueblo.
For the most up-to-date information on local and through traffic detours, travelers should check the Colorado Department of Transportation’s website and social media.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted Sunday evening that he had been in touch with Gov. Jared Polis and that federal transportation officials were on their way to the site of the BNSF derailment.
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