Crews have been at work since Sunday night, to restore service on Wisconsin's busiest rail corridor. State railroad commissioner Rodney Kreunen says a foot of rain triggered a mudslide, which swept five cars from a freight train off the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks in Vernon County over the weekend, and caused extensive damage to the state's most heavily trafficked train route. The double track route routinely carries up to fifty trains a day, as it supplies coal to power plants along the Mississippi River, and is also a major freight route all the way to the Gulf Coast. Kreunen says the railroad hopes to have one set of tracks back in operation by Monday night, and both back in operation by Wednesday night. In the meantime, rail traffic has been shifted to other lines in Wisconsin . Krenen says both the track and roadbed were extensively damaged by the mudslide, and he expects that it's in the range of a million dollars worth of damage.
AUDIO: Bob Hague reports (:65 MP3)
