Another DM&E derailment

From the Rochester Post-Bulletin:

‘Fatigued steel’ leads to derailment
Rochester Post-Bulletin, Tue, Aug 22, 2006

Two accidents — a derailment in Austin and a truck collision in Utica — tied up Iowa, Chicago & Eastern trains Monday.

First, six corn-filled IC&E rail cars owned by Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad derailed in Austin.

The railroad said in a statement that a preliminary investigation shows the cause to be “a broken rail due to fatigued steel.”The DM&E has a history of safety problems, which is one reason why the Mayo Clinic opposes the railroad’s proposal to send up to one-mile-long coal trains within blocks of the Clinic’s campus.

Derailments of trains operated by the DM&E or its subsidiary, the IC&E, seem to happen on a regular basis, the last one on August 3, and two occurring on July 23. From a press release issued by the Rochester Coalition, a group that opposes the Rochester in-town route:

ROCHESTER, Minn.