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CN Railway Working To Rebuild Northern Minnesota Bridge

INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. (AP) — Canadian National Railway officials are rerouting traffic as they replace a wooden railroad bridge that burned and collapsed near Minnesota's northern border.

Koochiching County Sheriff Perryn Hedlund says officials started removing debris hours after the bridge caught fire and then collapsed Wednesday.

The collapse blocked a CN line that runs from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to Chicago. It crosses the border at Ranier, Minnesota, near International Falls. It's one of the busiest rail crossings on the border.

Railroad spokesman Brent Kossey says CN hopes to return the line to service in the coming days, and in the meantime is rerouting traffic to maintain service to its customers.

He says the cause of the fire remains under investigation, and two potash cars that were stuck in the wreckage have been removed.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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