North Shore pizza train, freight train found themselves on same track

The North Shore Scenic Railroad Pizza Train had to make an unscheduled stop Thursday evening when it encountered a BNSF freight train headed -- slowly -- toward it on the same track.

The trains found themselves sharing the same stretch of scenic railroad tracks about 9 p.m. near the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center along Interstate 35.

Both engineers stopped their trains, initially about 600 feet apart, said Ken Buehler, general manager of the nonprofit scenic railroad.

The eastbound BNSF train then proceeded toward the stopped westbound Pizza Train until the freight train was far enough east on the track to back onto its ultimate destination, the BNSF Rice's Point yard, Buehler said after speaking with the volunteer engineer of the excursion train.

With the BNSF train out of the way, the Pizza Train proceeded to the station to end its trip.

The Pizza Train carried about 86 passengers and six volunteer crew members. None of the passengers complained to scenic railroad officials, Buehler said.

BNSF trains can and occasionally do use that part of the scenic railroad track to back long trains onto their track, Buehler said. Though BNSF doesn't have to give notice when it is using the track, it sometimes does; in this case, it did not, he said.

But because the two trains were traveling so slowly, at so-called "yard limits" operations speed -- the Pizza Train moving at 15 mph or less and the BNSF train moving about 5 mph -- there was never any danger of the trains colliding, he said.

"It was out of the ordinary, but not a (reportable) incident," Buehler said. "All FRA rules and regulations were followed. It was by the book."

While there are electronic systems on main tracks to prevent more than one train on a track at a time, there is no electronic device in the yard area to warn the trains of each other's presence, and the engineers were not in radio communication.

"Within yard areas there are no track controls. ... That's why they have to go so slow," Buehler said.

A BNSF spokeswoman said the event was not considered a near-hit or a reportable incident. In a rail yard situation, Federal Railroad Administration rules require trains to be able to stop in half the distance between them at first sight.

"The area is not main track," said Amy McBeth of BNSF. "Rules require that trains in that area be able to stop within half the range of vision, which means they are traveling at speeds that allow them to stop if there is conflicting movement. While it isn't typical that we would have a train there at that point, it is allowable, and can occur, as it did last night."

A Federal Railroad Administration spokesman did not immediately return a reporter's phone call Friday. A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman in Washington said his agency would not be involved because there was no accident, injuries or close call. Local law enforcement officials said they received no reports of the incident.

St. Louis County Commissioner Steve Raukar, who serves on the St. Louis & Lakes Counties Regional Railroad Authority, said while the authority owns the scenic rail line, federal law requires them to provide access to commercial freight traffic and that commercial use of the line is not uncommon.