Rail Roll over at Marcel, California (23/10/25)

[Ploughman]

There was another derailment at Tehachapi or nearby, one comment I have seen says 3000ft of rail rolled over under the train.

Initial Report: Train Derailment near Marcel, CA (UPRR Mojave Subdivision - California Division) | Customer Notifications | BNSF

www.bnsf.com

On Thursday, October 23, 2025, at approximately 08:44 a.m. CDT, we received a preliminary report of a train derailment near Marcel, CA which has affected the main track. BNSF personnel are responding to assess the affected area. The estimated time for opening the main track has not been determined at this time.


If your loaded shipment(s) is directly involved in the incident, a member of the BNSF's Load and Ride Solutions team will contact your company's representative within 24 hours of the incident with relevant information and next steps.

What would be the cause of rail roll over in this sort of scenario?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Not made the USA mainstream yet as far as I can see.

 

[tumbledown]

Quite a delicate operation going on at 17min into the second video...

 

[Ploughman]

What causes Rail Roll over?

 

[ac6000cw]

What causes Rail Roll over?

AFAIK it's usually a combination of excessive side (lateral) force on a rail and/or defective/weak rail fastenings.

It's quite twisty through Marcel - it's basically sharp S-curves on a steep gradient (see the aerial view in the second video above at 6:55). Tehachapi Pass is nominally a 2.2% gradient between Caliente (at the bottom) and Tehachapi (the summit), so long heavy trains will have high longitudinal (along the train) forces, some of which translates into lateral forces in curves.

This is a ground-level view of a train climbing through the Marcel area (starting at 16:34), heading south/east (my video from a visit there 10 years ago). The squealing is quite noticeable:

 

[Ploughman]

Thought that that might be the case.

Thanks.