SMART Union
A Metrolink train derailed early Tuesday, Feb. 24, in Oxnard, Calif., after slamming into a truck that was in flames. Twenty-eight people were injured, four critically.
The driver of the truck fled the scene and was taken into custody, officials said.
The train was going 79 mph near the crossing at 5th Street and Rice Avenue at about 5:40 a.m. when its engineer spotted the fiery truck, said Sergio Martinez of the Oxnard Fire Department.
Read the complete story at the Los Angeles Times.
On Feb. 22 the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that is now able to move forward with its full-scale forensic investigation into the derailment outside of Montgomery, W. Va., followed by a slower start earlier this week hampered by weather and safety concerns.
During a media conference in Boomer, W. Va., FRA announced next steps in its ongoing investigation into the incident, which includes participation from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The FRA is the lead Federal agency charged with investigating Monday’s derailment.
“With the response and recovery effort now complete, and the dangers associated with the initial derailment now minimized, the FRA will now begin its thorough investigation into the derailment,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “I thank the emergency responders who stepped into harm’s way to evacuate the affected communities, and I am eternally grateful that no residents were seriously injured.”
On Monday, Feb. 16, a 109-car unit train pulled by two locomotives derailed 27 tank cars carrying Bakken crude oil near the Kanawha River, approximately 30 miles southeast of Charleston, WV. The Department’s FRA and PHMSA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, and West Virginia state agencies have been at the site of the derailment since Monday evening.
“We are grateful to the first responders for evacuating residents safely, and grateful to the Coast Guard, the EPA and state and local agencies that worked together to immediately address urgent conditions at the derailment site,” said Sarah Feinberg, acting Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. “Now it is time for the FRA to begin our investigation into this incident in earnest, to identify any warranted enforcement actions, and to continue our work to ensure accidents like these do not continue.”
A full team of FRA investigators will remain in the Montgomery area for several days, and possibly weeks, as the investigation continues.
Initial activity at the derailment site focused on response and recovery, including controlling fires, containment of the crude oil release into surrounding areas, and protection of communities and drinking water sources near the derailment site. Although inclement weather, safety concerns for the community and its water supply, evacuations and fire containment limited the DOT’s initial steps in its investigation and data collection, the Department is now moving aggressively with a full-scale, thorough investigation into the cause of the derailment.
The FRA will now inspect all damaged tank cars, recover damaged rail from the accident site, and review maintenance and inspection records for rolling stock, track, signals, and locomotives. Equipment recovered from the accident site, including tank cars, tank car wheels and trucks, and damaged rail will be reassembled, documented, or reconstructed by FRA investigators at a location near the derailment site.
The FRA will systematically examine all recovered components to either eliminate or identify issues related to wheels, track, axles or other components that could have caused or contributed to the accident.
Additionally, the PHMSA is conducting testing of the crude oil product involved in the derailment to determine gas content, volatility, tank car performance and to ascertain compliance with federal hazardous material regulations related to proper product classification. The results of the inquiry will be included in FRA’s final investigative report.
“We continue to look into the composition of Bakken crude oil, which is why we took samples of the product to verify appropriate classification and whether emergency responders received the accurate information to respond to this derailment,” said Tim Butters, Acting Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Investigations into derailments can take significant time and resources. A full team of FRA investigators will remain in the Montgomery area for several days, and possibly weeks, as the investigation continues.
As the Department’s investigation continues, other federal and state agencies will continue to monitor the derailment site and surrounding areas to ensure it remains safe for residents. The EPA and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will continue to work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard to test and monitor water quality and atmospheric conditions in the vicinity of the derailment.
Two major train derailments, one in West Virginia and one in Northern Ontario, have once again put oil transport by rail in the national spotlight in the United States.
The derailment of the train hauling crude oil in West Virginia resulted in at least 14 cars bursting into flames. As a result, two towns near the site of the accident, Adena Village and Boomer Bottom, have been evacuated. Oil from the train also spilled into the Kanawha River, contaminating the drinking water for two counties. West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has declared a state of emergency. The incident came two days after another oil train derailment in Ontario, in which 29 cars were derailed and seven caught fire.
Read the complete story at www.vocativ.com.
The railroad cars involved in the fiery derailment in West Virginia on Monday were a newer model that was supposed to be safer than older tankers blamed in other recent oil train explosions.
The ruptured cars were built to specifications adopted by the railroad industry in 2011 amid criticism that older tankers were dangerously susceptible to puncture and a risk of explosion. Called CPC 1232 cars, the newer tankers were also involved in an April 2014 derailment and explosion in Lynchburg, Va.
Read the complete story at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
MOUNT CARBON, W.Va. – Fires burned for hours after a train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed in a snowstorm in West Virginia, sending a fireball into the sky and threatening the water supply of nearby residents, authorities and residents said Tuesday.
Officials evacuated hundreds of families and shut down two water treatment plant following the Monday afternoon derailment. The West Virginia National Guard was taking water samples to determine whether the oil had seeped into a tributary of the Kanawha River, state public safety division spokesman Larry Messina said.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Oct. 28 that the December 2013 Metro-North train derailment that killed four and injured 61 occurred when the train engineer had fallen asleep.
The train rounded a curve at 82 mph, well above the 30-mph speed restriction. The NTSB report determined that the operator had “an undiagnosed severe obstructive sleep apnea exacerbated by a recent circadian rhythm shift required by his work schedule.” In other words, his apnea condition was made worse when his regular shift was moved from one that started in the late afternoon and ended in the early morning to another that began between 4 and 5 a.m. and continued until the afternoon.
Read the complete story at Radio Station KRVN.
Update: KNOE 8 News has learned that the two railroad employees injured in Sunday’s train derailment are now both being treated for their injuries in a Shreveport hospital.
Mer Rouge Police Chief Mitch Stevens says the train engineer has a compound fracture to his leg and some bumps and bruises. The chief says the conductor has numerous broken ribs. He had surgery to remove his spleen and heart surgery related to the broken ribs.
Visit KNOE 8 for updates on this story.
Original Post:
MER ROUGE, La. – Two Union Pacific engineers were injured when their train derailed in Mer Rouge early Sunday (Oct. 5) afternoon after colliding with a truck that was stuck on the tracks.
The driver of the truck was uninjured after bailing out as the train approached. “The driver jumped out of the truck and took off running,” said Mer Rouge Police Chief Mitch Stephens. “That was all he could do.”
Read the complete story at The News Star.
A Burlington Northern Santa Fe train carrying crude oil derailed as it left a railyard in north Seattle on Thursday, but there were no reports of a spill or injuries, BNSF said in a statement.
Four railcars came off the tracks at around 2 a.m. PDT (0900 GMT), three of which were carrying crude oil, said BNSF, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The train originated in North Dakota and was bound for Tesoro Corp’s 120,000 barrel-per-day Anacortes oil refinery, 80 miles (129 km) north of the city, Tesoro confirmed.
Read the complete story at Reuters.
MISSOULA, Mont. – Boeing is deciding what to do with six new commercial airplane bodies that fell off a train in western Montana, including three that slid down a steep riverbank, a company spokeswoman said Monday.
Experts from Boeing Co. and Spirit AeroSystems, which built the fuselages, are at the site of Thursday’s derailment on the Clark Fork River about 50 miles west of Missoula, Boeing spokeswoman Dina Weiss said in a statement.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
A CSX Corp. train carrying crude oil derailed and burst into flames in downtown Lynchburg, Va., on Wednesday (April 30), spilling oil into the James River and forcing hundreds to evacuate.
CSX said 15 cars on a train traveling from Chicago to Virginia derailed at 2:30 p.m. EDT. Fire erupted on three cars, the company said. Photos and video from the scene showed high flames and a plume of black smoke. It was the second oil-train accident this year for CSX.
Read the complete story at Reuters.