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-Short Attention Span Theater-
The last thing I needed this morning......
2004-06-28
A freight train derailed this morning, leaking chlorine gas and ammonium nitrate just southwest of San Antonio, according to broadcast reports.
I'm within 5 miles, that ammonium nitrate bit got my attention.
Several people were treated for exposure to chlorine gas after the Union Pacific freight train derailed about 6 a.m. near the Lackland Air Force Base annex, according to the reports. The pungent smell of chlorine could be detected as far as the SeaWorld area, about 10 miles away. The accident happened about 5 a.m. today as a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train was pulling onto a siding, when it was struck by a Union Pacific freight train, said Burlington Northern spokesman Joe Faust at the railroad's Fort Worth headquarters. He had no details on how many cars derailed and whose train was the source of the chemical leaks, but he says the leaks have now been contained. Telephone messages to Union Pacific were not returned today. The broadcast reports said one of the eight treated for chemical exposure was a Bexar County sheriff's deputy who drove through the chlorine cloud. He was hospitalized, but his condition was not available.
Hope he's ok, they just reported the train engineer died.
No evacuations were ordered, but people were urged to stay inside if they could smell the gas and about two miles of nearby Pearsall Road was closed as hazardous materials specialists attacked the leak, according to the broadcast reports.
Now reporting that there were just trace amounts of ammonium nitrate on the train. Pulse returning to normal, back to work.
Posted by:Steve

#15  We certainly do have an abundance of stupid people...just seems strange with the derailments, chemical plant fires and oil refinery explosions we've seen over the last 2 years alone.
Posted by: jawa   2004-06-28 11:34:31 PM  

#14  Liquid ammonium nitrate is not explosive. Powdered ammonium nitrate itself won't go BOOM, either, it has to be mixed with something else like diesel fuel or get wet. When it gets wet, it gives off explosive vapors and then has to have an ignition source.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2004-06-28 7:37:03 PM  

#13  From 1997 through 2001, the rail accident rate climbed from 3.5 accidents per million miles of freight and passenger travel to 4.1 per million miles, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

The figures show derailments up more than 21 percent, collisions up nearly 18 percent and signal failures up nearly 80 percent during that time. Over the same period, the number of hours worked by railroad employees declined by 2.6 percent, FRA statistics show.


Posted by: rich woods   2004-06-28 7:09:14 PM  

#12  Don't be too quick to assign the blame to stupidity--it could just as easily been mechanical in nature.
Posted by: Dar   2004-06-28 3:57:59 PM  

#11  I read an interesting article about how the adoption of narrow gauge rail in the US has caused a large number of negative externalities such as slow speed, poor efficiency, and derailings etc. It's fascinating how seemingly small details can effect these large systems once technology has developed beyond the original limitations.
Posted by: mjh   2004-06-28 3:54:18 PM  

#10  I still wonder about those half dozen or so de-railers that were stolen tho....
Posted by: Shipman   2004-06-28 3:06:41 PM  

#9  All bulk materials are transported by train. I'm just as happy htat I am not riding past a double-semi of fertilizer when I drive to work.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-06-28 3:01:44 PM  

#8  Don't assume it's enemy action when simple stupidity will do.

"Never attribute to conspiracy something that simple stupidity can explain."

- Anon -
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-28 2:53:22 PM  

#7  that purdy scary steve. didnt know you san antonio. im in austin myself. :)

we all here cuz we not all there!
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-06-28 2:37:45 PM  

#6  Update from the scene, reports are that there was a stop signal, but the engineer for some reason didn't obey. Ran into back of other train, he's presumed dead. About a dozen people taken to hospital. They say, the "experts" that is, that the cargo of ammonium nitrate was not the explosive kind, it was liquid. WTF?
Posted by: Steve   2004-06-28 2:14:01 PM  

#5  Union Pacific has been having major safety and service problems the last few years. Trains sitting around for days due to lack of personnel to staff them. Accidents due to lack of maintenance and long shifts. Complaints to the NTSB from shippers. A little googling will turn up a whole *bleep*load of issues.

Most recent accident in Houston was a collision with a new Metro light rail train. The 2 U.P. workers lifted the safety gate at a crossing and drove their pickup truck onto the tracks just in time to intersect the path of a Metro train moving at about 50 mph.
Posted by: SteveS   2004-06-28 1:43:48 PM  

#4  unknown freight train derailments carrying chemicals?
Posted by: Frank G   2004-06-28 1:37:39 PM  

#3  Too many of these unknown freight train derailments carrying chemicals.

And the situation would be improved how much by switching to the hundreds of trucks that would be needed?

Steve is right - it happens, unfortunately.
Posted by: Pappy   2004-06-28 1:29:14 PM  

#2  The jihadists are quietly going about their work right here in the U.S.

Nah, trains been running off the rails since they invented trains. This shit happens all the time, you just don't notice till it happens in your own backyard. Don't assume it's enemy action when simple stupidity will do.
Posted by: Steve   2004-06-28 12:38:55 PM  

#1  Too many of these unknown freight train derailments carrying chemicals. The jihadists are quietly going about their work right here in the U.S.
Posted by: jawa   2004-06-28 11:58:09 AM  

00:00