The area bomb squad responded to a Grand Forks trainyard Thursday after Burlington Northern Santa Fe workers reported finding a suspicious object between the tracks.
A conductor in a train engine spotted the object that appeared out of the ordinary and told his boss, who alerted the dispatch center, said Lee Hansen, a BNSF employee in charge of the yard.
About 10 a.m., officers cordoned off a perimeter around the object, which sat west of the Columbia Road overpass and east of the Burlington Northern Federal Credit Union at 3030 DeMers Ave. The bomb squad then sent its 400-pound, four-wheeled robot controlled using fiber-optic cables down the track to investigate.
"Using their robot, they were able to get up close to it and see that the thing was hollow on the bottom side of it," Grand Forks Police Sgt. Kevin Kallinen said.
The object turned out to be a metal shell, about 2 feet by 2 feet, with handles on it.
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What it is and how it got there remains a mystery. Hansen said no BNSF employees saw anyone place the object between the tracks.
Officers briefly closed the Columbia Road overpass to vehicle and foot traffic during the bomb squad's investigation.
Company spokesman Gus Melonas said BNSF shut down the yard and evacuated employees during the scare. Mainline operations were not affected, he said.
"Our employees took the safe course of action," Melonas said of the workers' decision to report the object.
