GALENA, Ill. – (KWQC) The Jo Daviess County Sheriff says a train has derailed south of Galena along the Mississippi river. We have confirmed that the train was carrying oil.
http://kwqc.com/2015/03/05/train-derails-south-of-galena-ill/
Early report. Details skectchy.
Looks like the BNSF at Rochelle will be very quiet tonight…
And here is a series of photos ( from a distance).
See link @ http://www.rightnow.io/breaking-news/galena-il_bn_1425594067992.html
The report on the link by Victrola 1 seems to contain the same information I heard on a news broadcast here this evening.
Wow, I did not realize that it actually burned. I thought it just made the news because oil cars were involved. That is one BIG fireball.
There will be more calls to eliminate these “bomb trains” for public safty reasons. The calls are getting louder in PA. But as we know, trucks are far safer for hazardus transport. Right?
I don’t think there will be a choice to use trucks if oil by rail is banned. The only option will be to leave Bakken oil in the ground until trains are proven safe to handle it.
A spectacular fireball for television news crews. Dig out file video of CP’s derailment on the other side of the Mississippi from last month.
http://www.kcrg.com/bnsf-train-derails-south-of-galena-20150306
http://wqad.com/2015/03/05/train-carrying-oil-derails-near-galena-illinois/
According to the link:
“Trevino said the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration have been notified of the derailment, which involved unjacketed CPC-1232 model cars with a half-height heat shield.”
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It seems like a relatively small number of cars derailed, raising the question of whether this was a high speed derailment or a low speed derailment. But since it burned, it must have been one of those “high energy derailments” that no tank car can withstand without breaching.
What’s the BNSF’s alternative route until everything gets cleaned up and restored?
What are BNSF out of pocket expenses and costs on an incident of this kind?
Galena Fire Department had to abandon $10,000 worth of equipment, at least temporarily.
http://www.thonline.com/news/breaking/article_fb191072-c373-11e4-9c86-9bc87b7364e4.html
Posted: Mar 05, 2015 4:09 PM CSTUpdated: Mar 06, 2015 12:18 PM CST
GALENA, Ill. (KWWL) -Air and water samples were being taken Friday, but results might not be available for several days as a crude oil fire continues to burn following a train derailment near Galena…
http://www.kwwl.com/story/28274534/2015/03/05/developing-train-derails-near-galena-crude-oil-burning
Illinois Oil Train Derailment Involved Safer Tank Cars
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/train-carrying-bakken-crude-derails-burns-illinois-29431139
Months ago my coworkers and I spoke of this very issue. It is unanimous that these crude trains cannot be 100% safe at track speed. Run them at a speed that is the best guarantee that they will not explode when they derail. Wait! The railroads don’t want to run them that slow. It will disrupt the rest of the network.
Its getting to the point where the railroads don’t want these trains. The liability is not worth the revenue generated. Actually, with all these disasters, the cost of cleanup and the network outages must be costing more than what is generated.
We have a real problem here. Pipelines are not built yet to haul the stuff. It is too dangerous to haul by train unless the speeds are drastically reduced.
I can’t speak for the ‘rules/regulations’ in Canada, but I was under the impression( mistaken?) the several months back the FRA had demanded that ‘Oil Trains’ be slowed to 45 mph.
That seems to be the case out here on BNSF, they surely seem to move much slower than regular traffic. Even the mixed trains that seem to have a fair share of tankcars seem to move much less than track speed(?)
I grew up near Altoona, Pennsylvania, when the Pennsylvania Railroad cast a long shadow. As a result, I have followed the railroad industry for years.
The Bakken crude oil explosions have been disturbing. With the most recent event near Galena, Illinois I did some research. It became apparent to me that the phenomenon of slosh during transit is not identified or understood.
It is apparent that preventing a catastrophe is much more important than the container used for carriage. whether it is a 11 or 1232 tank car. Prevention must be zero tolerance, absolute; given the nature of Bakken crude oil.
Bakken crude oil is a stratified multi constituent liquid. Its weight is such that something like 28,000 gallons are the weight limit for a 30,000 gallon tank car. Visualize the 2000 gallons as about 36 drums of 55 gallon capacity. That’s quite a bit of empty space inside a tank car. It is about 269 cubic feet.
What is the factor of cargo sloshing in the tank cars? What are the fluid dynamics for a stratified liquid such as Bakken crude? How does the distributed inertia and viscosity of Bakken crude contribute to unstable vehicle dynamics and rail/ wheel interaction? Might skin friction result in the tank due to sloshing creating localized heating, stress and failure? Are boiling liquid expanding vapor events (BLEVE) causing the derailments?
Are the braking dynamics of ordinary air brakes contributing to slosh and a series of events leading to failure? Is there an optimal speed of operation for Bakken crude? Is there a maximum number of tank cars not to be exceeded? Is the draft gear and energy absorption of the tank cars adequate for handling Bakken crude.
These are the questions must be examined.
The inherent problem with railroad tank cars is that they are stupid. That is, there are no sensors on the tank cars to identify what the cargo is doing and how it affects vehicle dynamics.
Using internet satellite photos with my ae
So if sloshing is a problem just make tank cars with lower capacity to eliminate sloshing… Why have the RRs not sent an instrumented tank car with Bakken to Pubelo ? That way real information can be acquired.
Is it correct that Bakken cannot be shipped by pipeline without most of the volitile gasses removed?
Sidebar – pictures of the wrecked tank cars seem to have them collasped inward.
One of the most telling pictures on that web site is the car with one end on one track and another end on another track. If I was investigating the wreck, that is certainly a place I would want to start back from.
By the way the CN derailed an oil train in Ontario last night too.
The idea of sloshing playing a role in derailments is very interesting, and I am surprised if it is not being considered by the industry. I would think that loaded tank cars have a relatively high center of gravity compared to other rolling stock such as covered hoppers or even gondolas. It would be interesting to see a comparison of how these different types of cars ride.
Perhaps the shapeless nature of the tank car load also plays a role. All freight cars have slack action which can run in and run out with enough force to pull a drawbar or jackknife cars. A tank car with enough air space above the load might produce another version of “slack action” as the load itself runs in against the leading end of the tank.
Perhaps the typical coupler and draft gear slack “run-in” is causing a secondary “run-in” of the oil load itself, thus multiplying the normal slack run-in typical of any freight train. I cannot believe that this topic would not be under intense scrutiny by the designers and operators of tank cars.
Maybe it is time for the rectangular, “fish belly” tank car that is sized to be nearly full of oil when its weight capacity is reached. &
Perhaps those cars were crushed and by the kinetic energy of the oncoming cars feeding into the pileup, thus causing an internal pressure rise sufficient to burst the tank walls.