The violent North Dakota derailment is the latest accident involving fragile tank cars that the NTSB wants to replace
Fire Derailment in North Dakota The train that burned for days early last month is the latest rail accident involving the defective tanker cars that the National Transportation Safety Board has been trying to remove from the rails for decades.
The NTSB said in a preliminary report The agency announced Thursday that the July 5 train crash near the small town of Bordulac, North Dakota, caused an estimated $3.6 million in damage to CPKC tracks and equipment. But the agency did not provide many clues about what caused the derailment that occurred in the early morning hours of that day.
CPKC railroad officials are prohibited from answering questions about the derailment while the NTSB investigates.
The NTSB noted that some of the 17 hazardous materials tank cars that derailed were DOT-111 tank cars that have repeatedly demonstrated a risk of rupture in a train accident. recommending to eliminate The use of these cars for hauling hazardous materials has been around since at least the 1990s because of their history of problems, and Congress has mandated that they be replaced for hauling flammable liquids by 2029. But even then, they could continue to be used for other hazardous materials.
Federal Railroad Administration officials have said it would be possible to move that deadline up a year, but probably not much more than that because tank car manufacturers don’t have the capacity to do it sooner. Replacing a tank car also represents a significant cost for the chemical and leasing companies that own them.
The NTSB said it will conduct a detailed assessment of the damage to the DOT-111 tank cars and newer, more robust models of tank cars involved in the crash as part of its investigation over the next year or more. Recently, investigators Underlines how these tanker cars made the dire situation worse Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last year when they ruptured and released butyl acrylate, fueling a massive fire that prompted authorities to respond needlessly. blow up five tanker cars vinyl chloride to avoid a dreaded explosion.
Fortunately, in the North Dakota accident, few people lived nearby. Only two homes were voluntarily evacuated for two days while crews put out the fires and dealt with the methanol and anhydrous ammonia that had spilled. A dozen other cars that derailed were carrying plastic pellets.
No injuries were reported in the derailment itself.
The NTSB said emergency brakes were applied to the train before it derailed, but it did not say whether the two-person crew did so or whether the brakes were automatically applied.
The 151-car train was traveling at about 45 mph (73 km/h) when it derailed, which was below the 50 mph (80 km/h) speed limit set for it because it was carrying a number of cars of hazardous materials.
_____
This story corrects the spelling of Bordulac, North Dakota.
