MAMMOTH SPRING, Ark. — BNSF has reopened its Thayer South Subdivision through Arkansas, just five days after a bridge washed out under a stopped train.
A new bridge over the Warm Fork Spring River in Mammoth Spring State Park was completed on Thursday morning, April 10, after around-the-clock work. The opening came some 24 hours ahead of earlier estimates, KOLR/KOZL-TV reports.
BNSF said in a customer advisory that the subdivision, which runs between Thayer, Mo., and Memphis, Tenn., reopened at 7:05 a.m. CT. on Thursday. It had been shut down since the bridge washed out about 1:30 a.m. on April 5, sending cars of a stopped coal train into the river [see “Stationary BNSF train derailed …,” Trains News Wire, April 5, 2025]. A second train about 120 miles away was derailed by high winds.
The Thayer North Subdivision, between Thayer and West Plains, Mo., had been returned to service April 6, BNSF said in a social media post. The River Subdivision between Ste. Genevieve, Mo., and River Junction, Ark. was slated to reopen by midnight Thursday night, BNSF said.
