25 Cars on Freight Train Derail in Riverside

A San Diego-bound freight train derailed Thursday afternoon in Riverside, sending boxcars colliding into one another in accordion fashion and spilling lumber, dry cement and lard across the tracks, railroad and fire officials said.

No one was injured in the 3 p.m. accident near the 9500 block of Indiana Avenue in a neighborhood of mobile homes, fruit packing plants and other light commercial businesses, authorities said. Twenty-five of the 49 cars on a Santa Fe Railway train jumped the tracks

The engine, with the four crew members aboard, and several boxcars broke away from the derailed cars and continued on for another 300 yards, railway officials said.

The cause of the derailment, which is under investigation, may be linked to a broken axle on one car, which forced it to jump the track, Santa Fe spokesman Mike Martin said. The train was traveling about 35 m.p.h. and speed was not considered a factor in the accident, the officials said.

Crews at the scene worked through the night to clear the twisted boxcar wreckage and spilled cargo of lumber, dry cement and lard. The debris included hundreds of smashed television tubes destined for factories at the Mexican border.

Santa Fe officials estimated that the heavily traveled route would remain closed until late Friday while crews worked to open the tracks for freight and passenger traffic.

Initial estimates on the damage exceed $300,000 but officials say the cost could go much higher.