About 2:55 p.m. on November 26, 1976, 24 cars of Burlington Northern freight train Extra 5743 East derailed at Belt, Montana. Twenty-two persons were injured as a result of the accident and two persons are missing. About 200 people were evacuated because of subsequent fires and explosions. Five houses, a Farmers Union Cooperative facility, and several other buildings were destroyed or damaged. Nineteen motor vehicles were destroyed and Belt Creek was contaminated. Damage was estimated to be $4,540,000. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of an overloaded rail section which originated in an undetected transverse fissure.
Railroad Accident Report - Derailment of a Burlington Northern Freight Train at Belt, Montana, November 26, 1976
1977
21 pages
Report
No indication
English
Transportation Safety , Railroad Transportation , Rail transportation , Accident investigations , Cargo transportation , Tank cars , Fuel oil , Fires , Explosions , Houses , Evacuating(Transportation) , Buildings , Railroad tracks , Liquefied petroleum gases , Damage , Belt Creek , Water pollution , Hazardous materials , Montana , Railroad accidents , Railroad derailment , Belt(Montana)