Canadian Pacific Dispatch Audio from LeClaire Train Derailment

If you haven't heard about the train derailment in LeClaire on Friday you must be living under a rock. Newly released audio from the Canadian Pacific engineer operating the train and dispatch hints at the cause of the derailment that caused 24 train cars to come off the track and into the parking lot behind Blue Iguana.

The engineer told dispatch they went over a two foot piece of broken track, and from what he could tell a hazardous tank was on it's side, leaking it's contents onto the ground.

In the recording, a witness told the engineer there were cars in the river, which turned out not to be true. The train had 150 cars attached to it. One vehicle was damaged, but no buildings were harmed.

The LeClaire community had to evacuate downtown while crews investigated and cleaned up the hazardous material, and were allowed back into the area after authorities gave an all clear.

Many people have raised concerns about the speeds trains move through the area, and many are now doubling down on voicing their concerns about the railroad company's routines through the town.

Luckily this happened now without injury, and not during TugFest, when around 35,000 people come through the area throughout the long weekend.