The Austin Police Department said the incident happened just before 5 a.m. on Thursday, issuing a public notice about the derailment around 5:30 a.m. on social media. The incident happened near Bowie Street and West Third Street in downtown Austin, within the Seaholm District area.

Officials confirmed there were no injuries related to the train derailment, with police clarifying that it was a cargo freight train and not a passenger one. The train was also carrying non-hazardous materials, resulting in no safety impacts to the general public.

“Don’t know what caused it, but I know that there’s no danger to the public,” APD Public Information Office team member Corporal Matthew Nonweiler said Thursday. “It’s a pretty jarring eyesight, but nobody’s injured.”

Austin Police officials said the cargo train was carrying 230 cars at the time of its derailment. A spokesperson for Union Pacific Railroad told MySA on Thursday that seven Union Pacific intermodal train cars derailed, spurring the closures and subsequent investigations.

Austin Police said the immediate area along West Third Street near the derailment site was closed as a result of the incident. In a separate social media post, the Austin Transportation and Public Works Department confirmed Thursday morning that both Oltorf Street and Mary Street were closed east of South Lamar Boulevard due to the incident.

Both Oltorf Street and Mary Street later reopened around 11 a.m. on Thursday, city officials confirmed.

Both the Railroad Commission of Texas as well as Union Pacific Railroad will be investigating the train derailment, APD said, adding the public safety agency doesn’t handle train derailment investigations under its purview. 

While Nonweiler, who’s worked as an officer in downtown Austin for a decade, said he doesn’t remember any recent train derailments in the downtown corridor in recent years, there was a train derailment on the eastside back in October 2024. During that incident, a train car struck a utility pole during the early morning hours, resulting in seven derailed cars and sparked a power outage in East Austin near East Sixth Street and Robert T. Martinez Jr. Street.