Updated at 2:05 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024.
Two train conductors suffered minor injuries, and rail cars damaged tracks, a bridge and trees after a collision between two BNSF trains late Thursday in Boulder.
Pearl and Valmont streets between Foothills Parkway and 30th Street were closed for a period early Friday, but Boulder Police were able to reopen all roads by mid-morning. Heavily traveled trails and pathways near Boulder Creek remained closed Friday afternoon.
Jason Blockburger was returning to work along the Boulder Creek Path after playing disc golf at Valmont Disc Golf Park when he came across police tape blocking his route. He says he’d only just heard about the crash.
“There's no train tracks that I have to cross if I go this way,” Blockburger told CPR News. “This is just the path that comes around and then puts you out onto the [next] street.”
BNSF workers blocked off some trails Friday morning while they worked to clear the debris. But it is unclear how long trails will remain closed.
Evan Freirich, a Boulder resident who frequents the Boulder Creek Path on his bike, cycled up the path Friday morning to see if he could “see the crash site”.
“The trains being here in Boulder are kind of weird because it's not a very industrial area,” Freirich said. “They just don’t seem like it fits with what is down here, it’s not like we need trains.”
The conductors of the two trains have minor injuries. It’s unclear how exactly the trains collided. Police say the clean-up of several train cars could take several days. At least one of the trains was a mile long.
Police originally thought fuel from the train leaked into Boulder Creek but upon further investigation, authorities believe the fuel was absorbed into sand that spilled from one of the train cars. One rail bridge and a few trees were destroyed in the crash.
BNSF Railway is investigating the collision, but released few details about how the trains could have collided, the speeds they were traveling or what they were carrying.
"BNSF can confirm at approximately 11:13 p.m. CST Thursday, a train derailed near Boulder Creek, Colorado. Two crew members were taken to the hospital and have since been released," the railroad company said in a statement. "A small amount of fuel leaked from the locomotive but is not impacting the creek. Crews are on site working to clear the incident as quickly and safely as possible. There is no threat to the public. The cause is under investigation."
