Tempe Town Lake Bridge Derailment 7/29/2020

Train derailment, massive fire on bridge over Tempe Town Lake

A huge fire is burning on a train on a bridge over Tempe Town Lake. The fire was pumping thick black smoke into the air. That smoke plume was visible for miles.

Union Pacific said as many as 10 train cars derailed at about 6:15 a.m. The south side of the bridge then collapsed and caught fire.

It’s not clear what sparked the fire, but no injuries have been reported. The train car that is burning was reportedly carrying lumber, some of which was in the lake. There also was a tanker car that fell off the bridge. It's not clear what the tanker was carrying, but Arizona's Family reporter Gibby Parra said it had a hazardous materials warning sign on it.

The bridge in the image is located in Tempe, AZ, which is just outside Phoenix.

A railroad map of the location can be found on this link
https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?lang=&l ... e=standard

The line in question apparently is UP's Phoenix Subdivision.

What seems to be a newspaper website has a long article https://www.azfamily.com/news/train-der ... b639f.html

This was the SP mainline thru Phoenix in the past,it is severed at Kofa AZ by the UP,believe service stops at Buckeye Az
Amtrak Sunset Ltd and UP southern Transconn runs on the Gila Sub to Yumaand beyond

The Phoenix Sub is effectively a branch line off the Sunset Route which heads north from Picacho to downtown Phoenix. It used to continue west to Wellton where it rejoined the Sunset Route. Today, the active track ends around Arlington, AZ and the Palo Verde power plant.

Between Arlington and Kofa, the track is out of service, but I don't think it has been severed. My understanding is that UP was storing well cars east of Kofa as far as Hyder within the past couple years, and had autoracks stored west of Arlington. Whether or not UP has been hi-railing the track between the two points is beyond me.