(Aubrey, Texas – January 9, 2019)
On Wednesday morning about 9:30 AM, CST, a Union Pacific locomotive and 13 rail cars from a freight train derailed in the small Denton County, TX town of Aubrey. The derailment threatened residents and homes, coming within inches of several occupied and vacant residences in the area near Pecan and Main Streets.
One house received damage to its attached garage and property. Derailed and overturned rail cars littered yards and closed all but one grade crossing.
Luckily, most of the rail cars were empty and none of the loaded cars that derailed held hazardous materials. But the potential for disaster was ever present for the community’s 2,600 residents. According to Federal Railroad Administration statistics, a daily average of 20 Union Pacific trains passes through Aubrey at a maximum allowable speed of 60 mph.
Meanwhile, as cleanup operations stretched into a second day, no cause for the derailment was being offered by railroad officials.