One Dead, Nine Injured in Ethanol Train Explosion

The train's crew was reporting high water along the tracks at the very moment its cars started to derail, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt told reporters at a news conference Sunday.

It rained heavily in the area on Friday, but a spokesman for Canadian National Railway says that derailment due to "washout of the tracks" is "not a certainty and this remains under investigation."

The train was headed for Chicago about 80 miles to the southeast when the derailment, explosion and fire occurred near Rockford at mile post 80 at about 8:35 pm. The train was traveling at 34 miles per hour at the crossing, below the 50 mph speed limit.

One person died in the fire while waiting at the train crossing

Explosion and fire caused by the CN train derailment. June 19, 2009. (Photo by Wenstrom)

and nine people were injured, two seriously. A 41-year-old woman died while fleeing her car and a teenage girl is still hospitalized in critical condition from burns suffered in the explosion and fire. All train workers have been accounted for.

The 114-car train was hauling 78 tanker cars filled with ethanol. At least 25 area fire departments responded to the blaze, but they allowed the fires to burn themselves out. Flames stopped rising from the wreckage late Saturday afternoon.

Because air pollution and toxic fumes are a serious concern, federal and state environmental officials have been at the scene monitoring air, soil and water samples.

CN spokesman Patrick Waldron, at the scene, said, "Our teams moving forward with an environmentally sensitive response. We are working with local, state and federal authorities. As part of that, we continue do air monitoring tests, soil tests and water tests," he said, adding, "The air quality test is normal."

About 600 homes within a one-half mile radius of the derailment were temporarily evacuated over the weekend.

Waldron says the railroad is establishing a community assistance center to reimburse out-of-pocket expenses for families affected by the evacuation order. The center will operate from Our Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 2715 S. Mulford Road in Rockford.

National Transportation Safety Board Railroad Investigator Stephen Klejst is leading a team of 14 in the ongoing investigation. Sumwalt said it could take a year or even longer for any findings to be released.

Sumwalt said investigators examining the wreck on Sunday did not find any problems with the cars that stayed on the track. Today they are examining the cars that derailed.

Investigators found that a gas line buried near the tracks was hit but not broken, which could have caused a bigger fire. "The protective casing was breached, but not the pipe," Sumwalt said. "It shows that those protective casings do what they are designed to do."

"The recent Canadian National train derailment in Rockford is a tragedy that reminds us that rail safety must become a national priority," said TRAC, The Regional Answer to Canadian National, an advocacy group made up of municipal and county leaders from Lake, Cook, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will Counties.

"Canadian National has come under fire by the Canadian Government and here in the U.S. for having one of the worst safety records among all railroads," TRAC said in a statement today, adding, "this unfortunate incident seems to reinforce that Canadian National should not be allowed to run any trains until our federal government can guarantee public safety."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.