Truck-sized boulders fall on BNSF tracks

No trains were damaged or derailed when several large boulders fell onto the BNSF Railway tracks about two miles east of West Glacier on March 10.

BNSF spokesman Matt Jones said crews had the boulders off the tracks and the line reopened by 8:45 p.m. Crews used a large crane to remove the rocks.

The boulders, one nearly the size of a dump truck, slid off a nearby slope and went through a retaining fence onto the tracks. The slide was discovered by a BNSF employee.

A witness told the Hungry Horse News that a westbound freight train had just passed by the area when the slide occurred. The freight train did not appear to be hauling oil tankers, the witness said.

Train traffic was temporarily halted until the tracks were cleared.