CHICAGO, July 23 (UPI) -- Federal investigators said extreme heat caused railroad tracks to deform, leading to a fatal train derailment in Illinois last year.
A Union Pacific train crossing the Shermer Road Bridge over a viaduct along the border of two northern Chicago suburbs derailed. The coal on the train cascaded onto a roadway below the bridge and buried a car carrying Burton and Zorine Lindner, killing them.
A report by Federal Railroad Administration investigators found Union Pacific hadn't done anything improper prior to the accident.
A UP employee spotted what he thought was a bent weld in the track but because the worker was not qualified to make such an inspection he called for a supervisor who was on his way to the site when the derailment happened. The heat -- it was more than 100 degrees on July 4, 2012 when the accident took place -- caused the metal to degrade, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The federal report does not place blame for the accident and a Union Pacific spokesman said no company procedures have changed as a result of the investigation's findings.
A civil lawsuit against Union Pacific filed by the Lindner family remains unresolved, the family's attorney said.
Union Pacific has agreed to pay $10 million to repair the bridge.
