The Federal Railroad Administration requires railroads to investigate derailments. BOZEMAN — A train derailment in southern Montana sent about 40 cars off track and spilled coal onto the banks of a nearby creek. The Helena Train Wreck occurred in the early morning on February 2, 1989, in Helena, Montana, USA, when 48 cars of a Montana Rail Link freight train that had been decoupled from their locomotives by a train crew on Mullan Pass rolled backwards down the pass, traveling nine miles back into the city of Helena and colliding with a work train at a railway crossing near the center of the community. An initial report finds issues with the track caused last summer's train derailment. The FRA is heading up the full investigation, which could take up to a year to complete.