RAILROAD ACCIDENT REPORT: DERAILMENT OF A BURLINGTION NORTHERN FREIGHT TRAIN AT BELT, MONTANA, NOVEMBER 26, 1976.

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 orginated in an undetected transverse fissure.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Bureau of Accident Investigation, 800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1977-9-29

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures;
• Pagination: 19 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Axle load force; Casualties; Crash investigation; Defects; Derailments; Disasters and emergency operations; Explosions; Failure; Fires; Freight trains; Hazardous materials; Inspection; Liquefied petroleum gas; Railroad rails; Railroad tracks; Service life; Tank cars
• Identifier Terms: BNSF Railway
• Uncontrolled Terms: Broken rails; Emergency procedures
• Old TRIS Terms: Axle loadings; Rail failure; Track inspection
• Subject Areas: Design; Freight Transportation; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00170075
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Transportation Safety Board
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-RAR-77-7
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 30 1978 12:00AM