SMART UnionAt least 78 people have been killed in the passenger train derailment in northwestern Spain on July 24.
More than 140 were hurt, 36 seriously, after all eight carriages of the Madrid to Ferrol train came off the tracks near Santiago de Compostela.
Read the complete story at British Broadcasting Corporation.
A train disaster that killed five people in Quebec promises to touch off debate over the safety of shipping crude oil by rail or pipelines such as TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL.
As authorities began investigating the explosion of refinery-bound tank cars hauled by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., Quebec’s Green Party demanded stricter regulations and an energy industry association predicted tough scrutiny ahead for rail carriers.
Read the complete article at Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
QUEBEC – The official death toll has grown to three Lac-Mégantic, Que., one day after a derailed train carrying crude oil exploded in the town’s core, levelling buildings and forcing as many as 2,000 people from their homes.
Quebec provincial police said two more bodies were discovered overnight in the hardest hit area in the centre of town.
Read the complete story at CBC News.
A huge fire outside Baltimore, triggered by the collision of a freight train carrying chemicals and a trash truck, raged for 10 hours before being brought under control, officials said early Wednesday.
A dark, thick plume of smoke could be seen for miles after two of 15 derailed cars from a CSX-owned train caught fire.
Read the complete story at U.S. News on NBC News.com.
PAULSBORO, N.J. — A signal problem and/or a bridge-locking defect may have been contributing factors in a Conrail bridge collapse and CSX train derailment here Nov. 30. Paulsboro is some 20 miles southeast of Philadelphia.
Some 12,500 gallons of the hazardous material vinyl chloride spilled into a creek from four derailed tank cars. There were no crew injuries. While some 60 of those in the area were treated for respiratory problems, none of the injuries was reported as serious.
News reports quote National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman that there were possible problems with a track signal and/or the swing-bridge locking system.
Hersman said the CSX crew encountered a red signal, although the bridge was not in an open position to permit boat traffic on the creek below to pass. The crew, reporting the conflict, and after visually inspecting the bridge, was given authority by a dispatcher to cross the bridge, Hersman said. According to news reports, the locomotive and five cars had crossed the bridge at 8 mph when it collapsed.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are being assisted by members of the UTU Transportation Safety Team.
This is the second time the swing bridge has collapsed. In 2009, it collapsed causing the derailment of 16 coal cars of a 50-car coal train. It was repaired then and placed back in service.
The UTU Transportation Safety Team is assisting National Transportation Board investigators following an Oct. 21 derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Niles, Mich.
News reports indicate the investigation initially is focusing on whether the train was on the wrong track.
Some 174 passengers were on board, according to news reports, and seven passengers and two crew members were treated at area hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The UTU Transportation Safety Team is assisting the National Transportation Safety Board in investigating a fiery explosion following a Norfolk Southern derailment here July 11. Sixteen of 98 cars carrying ethanol, corn syrup and grain left the tracks around 2 a.m.
There were no injuries among the crew, but two nearby residents were slightly injured when the ethanol in three of the tank cars leaked and exploded into flame.
A witness said it looked as if the sun had fallen onto the tracks where the derailment and explosions occurred. About 100 nearby residents were evacuated from their homes during the height of the fire.
GLENVIEW, Ill. — Two bodies have been found under a collapsed railroad bridge here following the July 4 derailment of a 138-car Union Pacific coal train. The dead were in a a vehicle buried under the bridge wreckage. Authorities said more bodies of motorists could be found.
Glenview is a suburb of Chicago.
Union Pacific said extreme heat may have caused the rails to expand, leading to the derailment. Thirty-one of the loaded coal cars were derailed.
The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating. The train was enroute from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to an electric utility in Milwaukee.
The Chicago Tribune quoted a UP spokesperson that the 86-foot-long bridge was not designed to carry the cumulative load of the 31 derailed coal cars that piled onto the bridge at once.
The newspaper also quoted the UP spokesperson that railroad inspectors and monitoring equipment were on the tracks prior to the accident checking for track-gauge abnormalities, which is standard procedure twice a day during extreme heat or cold. A “slow order” was in effect for the train, and UP said a locomotive event recorder indicated the train was obeying the “slow order” prior to the derailment.
HAVRE, Mont. – Two unidentified BNSF crew members were injured here Aug. 28 when their 93-car freight train derailed, reports the Associated Press. The injuries were described as “not life-threatening.”
The eastbound train from Spokane, Wash., to Minneapolis reportedly left at least one of three locomotives and numerous freight cars on their sides. There was no hazmat involved, according to reports.