A Union Pacific freight train came off the rails at the Cantara Loop near Dunsmuir on Sunday night, sending about 19 cars off the track and backing up traffic through the Upper Sacramento River canyon. Officials reported no injuries and said there were no immediate signs of hazardous-material releases, while heavy cranes and re-rail gear were staged to upright loaded hopper cars. The derailment forced short-term closures on the line and disrupted both passenger and freight traffic into Monday as recovery crews worked to clear the scene.
Union Pacific said the incident happened at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday and involved roughly 19 railcars, and that “no one was hurt and nothing was spilled,” in an email forwarded to Siskiyou News. That account noted that three loaded hopper cars tipped onto their sides and that each loaded car can weigh roughly 255,000 pounds, more than 100 tons, which means specialized cranes are needed to lift and re-rail them. Redding Record Searchlight reported that cleanup crews were already on site and that investigators were examining what went wrong.
Cleanup And Service Disruptions
The derailment threw Amtrak’s Coast Starlight schedule into disarray while the right of way was cleared, with northbound and southbound departures turned or canceled until the track could reopen, according to Trains. Union Pacific crews and contractors remained on scene into Monday as specialists worked out how to lift and re-rail the heaviest cars. Nearby roads were intermittently closed so heavy equipment could reach the canyon, adding a dose of highway frustration to the rail headache.
Why Cantara Loop Keeps Seeing Derailments
The Cantara Loop is a tight, uphill curve that has produced accidents for decades and remains sensitive to heavy, long freight trains, with tricky track geometry and string-lining risk that make re-railing slow and labor intensive. The spot is best known for the 1991 Cantara spill, when a tank car of metam sodium plunged into the Sacramento River and devastated aquatic life downstream, as documented by SFGate. Local and regional reporting note this is the third notable derailment in roughly five years, including incidents in 2021 and late 2022, a pattern that has prompted concern among residents and first responders, according to Jefferson Public Radio.
Union Pacific and local officials say the cause of the latest derailment remains under investigation and that cleanup is ongoing. Dunsmuir city officials were contacted by the railroad as crews mobilized, Redding Record Searchlight reported. Environmental groups and regional advocates say the incident renews long-standing calls for clearer freight manifests, stronger oversight and better local notification when rail accidents occur, concerns outlined by CalTrout.
