Northstar Rail Service May Resume Tuesday

FRIDLEY (AP) - Metro Transit officials expect Northstar commuter rail service to resume Tuesday morning after it was shut down by a weekend freight train derailment in Fridley.

However, officials say passengers should expect delays as the backlog of freight trains thins out.

If BNSF Railway is unable to complete repairs by Tuesday morning, Metro Transit may ask Northstar commuters to transfer to buses that would take them from Coon Rapids to Target Field Station.

Regularly scheduled Northstar rail service from Target Field Station to Big Lake Station is expected to resume in the afternoon.

Seventeen railcars and two locomotives derailed and damaged a bridge in Fridley on Saturday morning in an area where an overnight downpour had swept away the track's foundation.

Ongoing updates are available at www.metrotransit.org.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)