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Saline County sheriff’s deputy Eric Appel told the Associated Press that 25 loaded cars of a 106-car Union Pacific train powered by three engines left the tracks near Bavaria Sunday afternoon.
Sparks from the derailment, the news service said, started a wheat stubble fire nearby, though a local fire department was able to contain the blaze.
UP spokesman Mark Davis said the train was traveling from Colorado to Kentucky.
Cleaning of the area and track repair began Sunday, but Davis said he did not know when the line could be reopened.
Investigators are looking at heat-related track warping as a cause for the incident, local news station WIBW said.
