I was watching the local news tonight and they reported acid leaking from “several bullet sized holes” in a tankcar at Salt Lake City, UT. The video showed KCCX 2863 with several holes near the top of the tank, toward the left end. I wonder if some idiot was shooting a train and cuased this. It looked like the car was carrying sulfuric acid, which is consistant with the KCCX cars I have seen.
Eric,
Car was probably a load of hydrochloric acid. If so, car is rubber lined. Once in a shile the lining fails and the acid eats through the steel. Holes start small and grow.
Mac
The placard number appeared to be 1830.
I heard about this on CBS News (KNX). South Salt Lake has been evacuated; I-15 is closed in the area. (This news report was at 9PM Sunday evening). According to the news report, the plan is to get some hazmat crews in there and slowly drain the contents into tank trucks.
Eric,
1830 is Sulfuric Acid. If placard is correct, this is unusual behavior.
Mac
Unless it was shot. It is difficult to read the placard as it is the one on the end and the footage is almost perpendicular to the side of the car. I saw it again, it might have been 32__. Maybe it is a mixture of acids.
Hmmm I guess this is what happens when I dont watch the news, and I get the SLC news. And I am only 180 miles away. If I get any new information form the morning news tomorrow mornig I will post them for you all.
The 11pm news mentioned that the leak is mostly contained. The report mentioned that more than one type of acid is involved – industrial waste.
SLC did not make the news in Florida. A derailment in Michigan & a the 3 people killed at a grade crossing (again) did.
Hot off SLC fox 13 news this morning. The tanker is owned by Kennecott, but was leased to another unnamed comapny who said it had a mixture of 5 chemicals that they did not name on air. This spill closed down all major highways in a place called the spaghetti bowl where I-15, I-80, and State Road 201 meet. These are all major thuroughfares and this is not effecting the morning commute at all. All officals have left the scene and the scene is completely in the hands of UP as of 7:30 AM Mountian time. There were over 100 firefighters on the scene yesterday from many different agencies from the Salt Lake Valley. The party found responsible will have to pay the South Salt Lake Fire Department for the response and cleanup costs.
Here is the report off the Fox 13 website:
Hazmat crews are still cleaning up the scene of a chemical spill. Thousands were forced to evacuate their South Salt Lake homes due to the leak. The evacuation has been lifted and people can go back to their homes. The leak happened Sunday morning near I-15 at 600 W. and 2274 S. Hazmat crews say a toxic chemical was leaking and would cause serious lung damage or skin damage to anyone who came in contact with it. An area 60 feet by 100 yards will need to be dug up and four train tracks removed. Officials say this could take several days. The freeways opened at around 5:30 Monday morning.
I had heard that it was nitric acid that was originally in the car; sulfuric acid seems more plausible.
I don’t know that the chemicals that were loaded into this acid tank car were publicly mentioned, but the mixture and residue evidently reacted with each other. I had not been aware that tank cars for acids were loaded with anything but the acids for which they were designed (different densities of the acids call for specific, dedicated cars–for example, hydrochloric acid is carried in larger cars than sulfuric acid because it is less dense).
The public attention and outcry will be against the railroad, but I think it is the company that reloaded this car that has some ‘splainin’ to do.
Yep just showed it here. Pix they showed was the F/way was still closed. Pretty scary stuff since in May I will be in that area visiting. [:o)]
was the tanker on UP and is every body alright I hope so I don’t want another tanker leak death again this year or any year
kevin
Does anyone know where the Kennecot facility in Nevada is?
Try this link for the story.
http://start.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20050307/422bdfd0_3ca6_1552620050307-71543243