Train derailment in Illinois causes fire, damage

A Canadian freight train derailed early Thursday morning in northeastern Illinois, causing fire and extensive wreckage. No injuries were reported in the accident, which took place on the Milwaukee West line, in the town of Bartlett, about 50 km west of Chicago. State workers were struggling to clear the site. Illinois police told Xinhua that they still "had no clue" what exactly caused the derailment of the train, which belongs to the Canadian National Railway. The three cars that caught fire were carrying scrap metal and fiberboard. Those carrying chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and ferrous sulfate were unaffected by the derailment. In January, a freight train of the Canadian Pacific Railway derailed at nearly the same spot on the Milwaukee West line.