A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying crude oil derailed and began to burn Thursday afternoon near Galena, Ill., just over the state line from Wisconsin and 160 miles west of Chicago.
The company said the train consisted of 103 rail cars loaded with oil, along with two cars carrying sand.
The derailment took place in a rural area and there were no injuries reported, according to BNSF. The cause of the derailment wasn’t immediately known, and federal investigators were heading to the scene of the incident.
Some of the oil was on fire Thursday afternoon, according to local news reports. A plume of black smoke was visible.
This is the third derailment of a train carrying crude oil in less than a month. In mid-February, there were derailments in Ontario, Canada, and West Virginia. In both instances, a number of the railcars ignited and exploded.
The oil trains in those previous incidents were carrying crude from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale. Based on the location of Thursday’s incident in Illinois, it is likely that is the origin of the crude in the train that derailed. The Wall Street Journal has reported that oil pumped in North Dakota tends to be particularly gassy and volatile.