ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) – Tank cars loaded with thousands of gallons of highly flammable ethanol exploded in flames as a freight train derailed, killing one person and forcing evacuations of hundreds of nearby homes.
The cars continued burning Saturday morning and officials said they would wait for the “very dangerous” inferno to burn out by itself.
Rockford Fire Chief Derek Bergsten said 74 of the train’s 114 cars were filled with ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, but only a dozen of them were burning.
Officials evacuated the area on the edge of Rockford, about 80 miles northwest of Chicago, Friday night amid concerns about air pollution and the chance that more of the train’s cars might catch fire.
Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said early Saturday the death was that of a female who was in a car waiting for the train to pass a crossing near the derailment site.
Bergsten said three other people ran from the car when it was bombarded with flying railroad ties and they were severely burned by flaming ethanol. They were taken to OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in serious to critical condition, and one was transferred to Stroger Hospital in Chicago, he said.
Two crewmen on the eastbound Canadian National train escaped injury, said company spokesman Patrick Waldron. The engine crew was able to pull 64 cars away from the scene.
The cause of the derailment was still under investigation Saturday but witnesses told the Rockford Register-Star that cars on the Chicago-bound train began hydroplaning in standing water as it approached the crossing. Some of them left the tracks moments before two of them exploded.
Parts of northern Illinois may have gotten up to 4 inches of rain Friday, said meteorol
From what I’ve read / heard, it sounds like this train was running at something close to track speed. That would be hard to believe given the amount of rain (@4 inches) in the Chicago / Rockford area yesterday (6/19) and the numerous flood warnings / watches. Did the CN check their tracks for standing water? If this train was hydroplaning, as witnesses suggested it did, then that suggests that there was a lot of standing water on the tracks. You have a a train loaded with flamable chemicals approaching an area where the track conditions are questionable due to weather related issues and nobody at CN thinks twice about? Tick, tick, tick. Also, it’s going to be interesting to hear the explanation regarding the hows and whys regarding the tank cars being breached / exploding.
Oh this is going to go over great in Barrington… should help ease their fears about all those freight trains rumblin through their town. Don’t worry the CN will say, we promise we won’t blow one up in your town. For all of us who make fun of the NIMBY nation I don’t have any argument with them on this one because I wouldn’t want a freight train to blow up in my back yard either.
CAN a train hydroplane? I’ve seen them throw up spray, certainly. But the forces involved would seem to preclude them lifting off the tracks from hydroplaning.
It’s ridiculous to even think the train was hydroplaning - 130 tons on narrow steel wheels are a lot different than 1.5 tons on four fat rubber tires. But if the tank cars already lost their trucks in the derailment, it is possible they gave that impression as the loose carbodies plowed through the ditch.
Steady pounding on a saturated subgrade can liquefy the soil, so I wonder if this might be the root cause. If there is a rail joint in the area, especially if it is a bit low, each car in the train will turn the soil closer to a slurry. You can often get the same result tapping your foot on wet soil next to a muddy puddle.
And why slow down the train if Hunter will have your butt for delays on his “scheduled railroad”. But I am sure the blame culture is now selecting a scapegoat.
Do not LAUGH I have seen 40 tons on 18 wheels Hydroplane moving at 30 MPH. More than likely we had a HIDDEN washout that only took out the ballast and left the ties and rails intact. The train finsihed the job and took out the REST.
Drainage of the right of way during times of heavy rain is critical…some of the drainage the railroads control…some of it they don’t. Blocked culverts and other kinds of drainage channels off of railroad property can create serious issues. By the same token, if the railroad doesn’t have it’s own drainage tools working they are in trouble.
I live 1/2 mile from the UP Milwaukee sub, and 1 mile from the CP C&M sub; I ALWAYS know which way the wind is blowing, just in case…
The above-mentioned tracks are to my west; to the north 1/4 mile is Ocean Spray, and 1 mile to the south is Supervalu’s warehouse, both of which use ammonia in their refrigeration systems. The only “safe” direction for me is east, which fortunately is the prevailing wind direction in Kenosha.
When I first read on a Canadian news site about this wreck happening near a grade crossing, this was the first thing I thought of. You have to have three parties all looking after their own drainage issues, the RR, the local Highway Department and adjacent private property owners. It’s always hard to get all three groups working in the same direction.
Based on many years of train watching, this isn’t the first submerged grade crossing I’ve seen or heard about. But fortunately for me the ones I’ve seen have been on mostly little used yard trackage.
It is a matter more of the weight PSI and since the steel wheel is much more concentrated PSI not very likely to hydroplane a train. Remember when bobtailing how little weight on each tire of the drives. Depending on your tractor can be 450 - 700 pounds per tire and the tire footprint is 2" x 8". The moral of this do not ever get in front of a tractor without trailer if the pavement is wet.
CHERRY VALLEY,IL: 6TH ALARM, TRAIN DERAILMENT AT HARRISON & MULFORD. REPORTED AS 14 RAIL CARS CARRYING ETHANOL DERAILED & ON FIRE. EVACUATION OF ENTIRE AREA IN PROGRESS [23:37] UPDATE- 1/2 MILE+ EVACS IN PLACE. 3 VICTIMS TRANSPORTED, 2 VERY CRITICAL. COMMAND LETTINNG PRODUCT BURN ITSELF OUT. ALL COMPANIESS WORKING. SPECIAL CALLED 4 HELOS. [03:26,CHGO]
Remember CN thought that they could RUN heavy trains down 2.2% grades in Britsh Columbia without Retainers or Dynamic Brakes and with Defective Equipment. That accident cost them 2 Railroaders.
Remind me to tell you to go jump into the lake if we dump 'em, Jim! [;)]
I can’t imagine a train traveling at track speed under such conditions, particularly with the relatively light traffic density that they enjoy. We have a pair of mainline tracks that go east and west a few miles south of Rockford (complete with a webcam!), and I remember one storm that flooded the low area east of Rochelle. Lots of trains encounter this stretch every day, normally at faster speeds than are possible on the CN’s line, yet this water hazard (and a possible washout beneath those tracks) didn’t snare any of them.
I can appreciate the fact that a block system could be unaffected by loss of roadbed beneath the still-connected rails, but I can’t imagine (a) a Class 1 railroad not knowing about severe weather conditions along any of its lines, or (b) a crew that boarded a train in eastern Iowa somewhere not knowing that conditions ahead of it last night could get nasty.
I’d better qualify my statements, though, because I don’t know this line well enough–was this a place where water could be expected to produce a washout in flash-flood conditions?
I hadn’t thought about this before. So, if my property lies next to RR Track, do I have a legal responsibility to concern myself with drainage that affects the tracks? Is this like being responsible for the home owner’s associations tree that is planted between the sidewalk and the street in front of my house, but in essence belongs to the home owner’s association? And I know that if I change the landscaping in my yard and it causes a change to the drainage into my neighbor’s yard, I can have an upset neighbor. But do I have to worry about legal recourse from this neighbor? or the railway company in the case of yard run-off, (from watering, not from my fleet of private railway cars I keep in the back room [;)],) next to the tracks?
Ok, now that’s funny… I didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers. It isn’t just about the roadmaster or the track inspectors, but I really appreciate the bounty on my head. There could be another seperate reason that this train derailed but the weather and possible standing water on the tracks appear to be the focus right now. We’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t know what procedures the CN track inspectors in this area took to check for water / storm related issues to the ROW in the hours, or days, leading up to this derailment. Mudchicken, what is the normal procedure, if there is one?
I have to admit that this one bothers me having grown up close to CN’s Iowa Division in northeast Iowa during IC/ICG days. It DOES seem amiss that CN didn’t have engineering service people out there monitoring the condition of mainline track in circumstances such as this; even more so that a train was doing track speed through standing water. While I’m no expert in the engineering area a la Mudchicken, it seems reasonably safe to assume that the ballast and subgrade were seriously comprised in this particular area that possibly could have been one of the lead causes of the derailment. I understand that RRs simply do not have the army of people out there in the field like they used to have but this latest incident (hopefully) will cause CN to seriously review its practices of monitoring adverse weather situations.
“So, if my property lies next to RR Track, do I have a legal responsibility to concern myself with drainage that affects the tracks? … And I know that if I change the landscaping in my yard and it causes a change to the drainage into my neighbor’s yard, I can have an upset neighbor. But do I have to worry about legal recourse from this neighbor?”
The short answer, Tina, is yes. I have adjudicated a surprising number of cases of just this nature. The burden of proof is on the party claiming damage – the neighbour – and is rather high, but if the neighbour (or highway department or railroad or what have you) can show that something you did caused damage to them, they can collect or require you to remediate the situation, or both. Conversely, I might point out, if you can show that the highway department (usually!) did something stupid and caused damage to your property, you can collect from them – the most common examples being culverts not cleaned out, or a nice new culvert aimed directly at your patio (don’t laugh; I’ve seen it happen).
I have no intention of speculating on this particular accident – except to point out that even if the geometry of the rail and wheels was such that the first few axles could hydroplane (and that is unlikely in the extreme at subsonic speeds) and if the hydroplaning forces were great enough to lift the flanges above the rail (equally unlikely) the rest of the train would not – the water would have been long since removed from the rail head. “Hydroplaning” in the context of the witness sounds to me like a nice big word he or she heard once and applied incorrectly.
Looking at the likely area on Bing Maps (formerly Microsoft Live) and using aerial and Bird’s Eye views you can see that the area is a likely troublespot following heavy rains. You have a meandering creek on the south side of CN’s tracks right alongside the subgrade and you have a small deck bridge west of S. Mulford Rd. grade crossing, where the creek crosses from the north side of the CN. There are several small ponds visible in the immediate area of the tracks and it looks like low ground.
Plug in S. Mulford Road, Rockford, Illinois 61109 to see the area, the UP branch is in the area but a little further north.
Seems that the train was running through standing water over the rails. Not a good idea. I don’t know how fast the water came up or when the line was inspected after the heavy rains.
My question: I believe the line has ABS. In that case why wouldn’t the water have shunted the circuit and caused the signals to go red?
There are obviously things that I don’t know, but right now it seems that there is nothing for the railroad to do here except admit their responsibility, sincerly apologize to the injured and bereaved, and write some checks.