Canadian National Train Derails in Minnesota, Homes Evacuated Near Warroad

Two "dangerous goods" railcars tipped alongside Highway 313, just south of the Manitoba border, forced a precautionary evacuation of about a half-dozen homes in Roseau County before sunrise Saturday after a Canadian National freight train came off the tracks north of Warroad.

The Roseau County Sheriff's Office reported that 42 cars derailed at approximately 4:50 a.m., including two railcars carrying dangerous goods. CN later put its own count at 18 cars, a figure spokesperson Ashley Michnowski provided in a statement, a discrepancy common in the chaotic early hours of a major derailment as crews survey scattered wreckage across a broad stretch of right-of-way.

An evacuation zone from 400th Street to County Road 137 along Highway 313 was established as a precaution. The Patch Motel on State Avenue in Warroad was opened to anyone who needed to evacuate. A stretch of Highway 313 north of the Warroad airport was also closed.

Warroad Fire Chief Damian McMillin confirmed that some of the overturned cars were classified as "dangerous goods" cars, but said there was no evidence they were leaking as of noon Saturday. "We don't want to alarm people, but for us the best thing to do is trust but verify," McMillin said. "Everything right now is precautionary."

Hazardous materials teams were checking for leaks and monitoring air at the scene on Saturday afternoon, and officials reported no environmental concerns. Roseau County Sheriff Steve Gust's office told the public the situation was being handled with caution, not alarm: "This is just a precaution. We will update the public when we have further information."

Cleanup activities were expected to take two to three days. Freight customers that rely on this CN corridor, which carries agricultural and industrial shipments through one of Minnesota's most remote counties, face potential reroutes until the line is cleared and inspected. The region's grain and resource shippers have limited alternate routes, meaning even a brief mainline closure can compress delivery windows that are already tight in early spring.

The cargo manifests for the two dangerous goods cars remain under scrutiny. Until investigators confirm exactly what those cars were hauling, and whether any ground or groundwater contamination occurred, the full environmental picture cannot be drawn. No injuries were reported. Officials said additional briefings would follow as hazmat teams completed their assessments and as CN worked to re-rail and remove the wreckage.

CN said the derailment happened just before 5 a.m. Saturday north of Warroad, with a preliminary assessment from the company listing 17 rail cars involved before the sheriff's office revised that figure sharply upward. The gap between those numbers, and the presence of dangerous goods cars on a rural northern corridor, will likely draw scrutiny from state and federal regulators who have intensified oversight of freight rail safety following a string of high-profile derailments across North America in recent years.