Thirteen Union Pacific freight cars derailed along Texas Highway 6 in rural Falls County on Tuesday evening, leaving rail cars twisted and toppled across a crossing north of Marlin and forcing the closure of a county road for hours, according to KBTX and KXXV.

The wreck happened shortly after 4 p.m. near the intersection of Highway 6 and County Road 112/113, between the small communities of Riesel and Perry, roughly 20 miles northeast of Waco. Video from the scene showed more than a dozen freight cars strewn off the rails, several flipped onto their sides in the grass beside the highway. The Falls County Sheriff's Office and Texas Department of Public Safety closed CR 113 while crews worked to secure the site, and Union Pacific said it was leading the investigation into what caused the cars to leave the tracks.

A Union Pacific spokesperson confirmed the count of derailed cars and said the incident could have been far worse.

"No one was injured, and hazardous material was not involved."

The cause of Tuesday's derailment has not been released, and it was not immediately clear what the affected cars were carrying before they came off the rails.

A rough year for Union Pacific in Texas

This is the second Union Pacific derailment to draw national attention in Texas in 2026. In March, a 24-car derailment near Richmond ruptured seven tank cars and spilled roughly 120,000 gallons of ethanol, in a wreck that federal investigators say happened after the train experienced an unexplained emergency brake application at 35 mph. The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report on that crash put Union Pacific's damage estimate at $3.6 million; the cause remains under investigation.

Nationally, derailments have actually been trending down: Federal Railroad Administration safety data shows the derailment rate among the country's largest freight railroads fell sharply over the past two years. Rail unions have nonetheless pushed regulators for tighter oversight after a string of high-profile wrecks, including the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio disaster that reshaped public attention on freight rail safety.

No injuries were reported in Tuesday's Falls County derailment, and officials say the absence of hazardous cargo kept the incident from becoming a bigger public safety threat. Cleanup crews remained at the scene overnight working to clear the mangled cars and repair the damaged track.

Union Pacific has not said when County Road 113 will reopen or when it expects to determine what caused the derailment. The Federal Railroad Administration, which requires railroads to report accidents causing more than $1 million in damage, has not yet said whether it will open its own inquiry into Tuesday's wreck.