Mudslide hits Alaska Railroad freight train

An Alaska Railroad train was hit by a mudslide near Cantwell early Wednesday, blocking the tracks until the afternoon and requiring passengers aboard stranded trains to be transported by bus.

Railroad spokesman Tim Sullivan Jr. said Thursday the freight train involved in the 4:30 a.m. Wednesday incident was on a run from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

"The slide struck the train," Sullivan said. "No damage to the train, no derailment, no damage to the rail — just mud that needed to be cleared."

The southbound and northbound Denali Star passenger trains between Anchorage and Fairbanks were also delayed by the slide. A total of 380 delayed passengers were bused to their destinations, Sullivan said.

The Denali Star's ridership typically falls near the end of the summer tourist season, Sullivan said, before it stops running in mid-September.

Crews were able to clear the slide by about 3 p.m. Wednesday, reopening the track to traffic.

Sullivan said this year has been an average one for the railroad in terms of mudslides, with no track washouts like the one that removed rail bridge abutments and left tracks dangling across Gold Creek in 2012.

"It's been pretty standard," Sullivan said. "When it rains a lot, we get slides."