Cleanup Underway After Train Derailment in Illinois Leads to Temporary Evacuation, Leak of ‘Various Substances’
Meanwhile, NTSB accuses Norfolk Southern of ‘unconscionable’ interference during probe into East Palestine toxic train derailment.
In mid-June, Mary Chastain reported that a research project conducted by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program found that the chemicals released during the East Palestine, OH, train derailment reached 16 states.
Another derailment carrying chemicals derailed in a Chicago suburb on Thursday, briefly sparking evacuations of nearby homes and businesses. One of the cars was leaking liquified petroleum gas (LPG), a widely used chemical substance.
The train derailed at 217th Street and Main in Matteson, NBC Chicago reported. A mandatory evacuation was underway amid a suspected leak from the derailed cars.
The evacuation affected people and businesses within a quarter-mile east, 1 mile west and 1 mile south of the site, according to the station. The evacuation in the area was lifted Thursday afternoon except for areas very close to the derailment site.
Canadian National Railway said in a statement that the derailment involved about 25 cars “carrying various substances.” There were no fires or reports of injuries, a spokesperson said.
Two cars containing residue liquified petroleum gas leaked a limited amount, the spokesperson said, adding that it has since been contained.
Non-hazardous plastic pellets were also released.
“It was louder than normal and it was longer than normal,” Matteson evacuee Cassandra Montgomery said. “”I heard, like, the loudest crash. You see the police officers driving up and down the street, telling people they need to evacuate, the first thing you think about is, like, ‘Oh my God!’ When they mention chemical spill.”
There were no immediate reports of injuries, but officials did look at a leaking train car. The emergency response was only a precaution while crews quickly contained the leak.
The village spokesman said a white powdery substance seen leaking was tested by CN, who said it is not hazardous. A fire official said it was plastic pellets.
“When that chemical reaches a certain temperature, it just evaporates into the air. We have no readings or any hazards in the air,” Homewood Fire Department regional hazmat specialist Steven DeJong said.
The cause of the derailment is under investigation.
Meanwhile, officials from the National Transportation Safety Board offered scathing testimony during a hearing Tuesday marking the conclusion of their investigation into the train derailment in East Palestine.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy accused Norfolk Southern railroad of interfering in the federal probe on multiple occasions.
She claimed a Norfolk Southern contractor lied when he said he did not keep written records on temperatures within the tanker cars – which were carrying the caustic vinyl chloride that was later burned off or had spilled into the local aquifer.
Homendy claimed in her closing remarks that the NTSB later interviewed Norfolk Southern employees who revealed text messages were sent between the railroad and contractor.
…Homendy also claimed Norfolk Southern wrongly hired a private company to test “commercially purchased” vinyl chloride versus the chemicals that had spilled into Ohio and Pennsylvania soil, and filed their results with the NTSB.
“Not only did these actions violate our party agreement, but they violated the regulations governing our evidence collection,” Homendy said.
Transportation by rail is critical to our economy, and most derailments occur in the train yards and do not lead to injuries or leaks.
There were at least 1,164 train derailments across the country last year, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration. That means the country is averaging roughly three derailments per day.
“Yet we’re not hearing left and right about derailments in various places around the country, and the main reason for that is they are not really a major event,” Mehdi Ahmadian, a professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, told NPR.
Industry leaders say that most derailments occur within the confines of rail yards, and suggest that trains are safer than other modes of transportation, such as driving. Last year train derailments injured sixteen people and left one person dead, federal data shows.
However, after East Palestine, derailments deserve extra scrutiny when they involve hazardous materials.
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DAMMIT!
I already have my bank failure decorations up… 🙂
Which is more difficult?
1. Cleanup after a freight train derailment
2. Cleanup after Biden campaign derailment
Regulatory agencies’ first priority is to establish that it’s somebody else’s fault.
All that happened was that a bearing overheated faster than the system was designed to accommodate, a regulatory failure if anything. Fault detectors have to be placed closer together than they are currently required to be placed, to catch that situation. No doubt the rule is being changed, but it’s a rule failure.
Currently a fault detector say hot bearing, which it broadcasts on the radio. It says “no faults detected” or what’s wrong (hot bearing axle 233, e.g.). Then the train stops and the conductor walks back to axle 233 with a crayon designed to melt at a certain temperature, say 155 degrees F. He puts the crayon on the bearing and if it melts, they proceed with permission at 10 mph to the next siding and put the car out. (Or the conductor might find a handbrake set and release it, solving the mystery.)
It’s a common everyday event on any heavily traveled freight line. What’ new in E Palestine is that the hot bearing detector didn’t warn in time to prevent a breakdown, e.g. needed to be more fault detectors closer together.
A big key to condition monitoring is ‘trending’ – what has it done over time. Absolute temperature is somewhat less important than the change of temperature over time. If you believe CNN, there was a change in temperature of over 200 degrees in 40 miles…. This is not normal. Bearings will have a temperature rise on start up, and typically lower to a stable operating temperature. That temperature may be hotter than what you can comfortably touch – the big key is ‘stable’. There are several traits that can be monitored that will give more time from onset to failure – trending still is the key to understanding.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/25/us/ohio-train-derailment-bearing-vibration/index.html
“The bearing, according to the report, was 38 degrees above ambient temperature when it passed through a hot box 30 miles outside East Palestine. No alert went out, the NTSB said.
Ten miles later, the next hot box detected that the bearing had reached 103 degrees above ambient. Video of the train recorded in that area shows sparks and flames around the rail car. Still, no alert went to the crew.
It wasn’t until a further 20 miles down the tracks, as the train reached East Palestine, that a hot box detector recorded the bearing’s temperature at 253 degrees above ambient and sent an alarm message instructing the crew to slow and stop the train to inspect a hot axle, the report said.”
“Various substances”
I remember the runaway Ohio train heading south for Columbus that was carrying “combustible material,” which turned out to be lumber.
They boarded and stopped the train as it happened, and it was the basis of the movie “Unstoppable,” dramatized with impossible and unlikely situations but still a fun movie.
While most derailment do not result in big dangerous leaks of hazardous materials EVERY incident should be investigated by the State/Feds. If the railway operator wishes to conduct a parallel investigation and the State/Feds on scene view it not interfering with their investigation(s) then sure let them on site. A situation like East Palestine and shady procedures with a disjointed ‘who’s in charge’ of the site must be remedied.
You have about three derailments a day so the investigative team will be pretty busy.
I don’t run any trains off the tracks so ‘I’ don’t have any derailment on my record.
If you want to go on record that the State/Fed should be excluded from overseeing investigations into railway industry favor of the railway company hand picked team of investigators….. lets apply that same formulation to auto accidents; the driver gets to tell the LEO to piss off, that he will handle the investigation and wouldn’t you know …it wasn’t his fault. Nothing to see move along.
I’m sure that if the railways have the funds to hire a team of investigators then they have the funds to pay into an accident investigation fund held and administered by the NTSB and if a hazardous material spill the EPA to fund additional govt investigation teams. If not then eff it, shit down all rail traffic until the investigation backlog gets resolved. I feel confident the railways would cough up the funds to preclude that.
hmmm
new affordable housing for fjb “visitors”???
More terrorism, but not a peep about it.
We recently took an Amtrack from BHM to NOLA. At times I saw us going 75 mph on Google Maps on tracks that were rough and noisy and a train that could sway concerningly. Contrast this with train travel in Great Britain a little more than a year ago that was smooth, quiet, and swift – 100 mph and faster for long stretches.
Bearings can and do overheat, especially if they’re not monitored adequately, but I’m more concerned about the condition of our rail system.
Paranoids need not apply:
Why am I getting the feeling that not all of these derailments are accidental or due to “overheated bearings”?