Wednesday, March 25, 2015

ILLINOIS SEN. DURBIN: BNSF RAILROAD SAID THAT GALENA DERAILMENT CAUSED BY WHEEL MALFUNCTION. THE WHEEL OF A TANK CAR BROKE, CAUSING THE DERAILMENT.















MARCH 25, 2015

GALENA, ILLINOIS

An Illinois Senator says BNSF Railroad told him the preliminary cause of a train derailment and fire near Galena earlier this month.

Sen. Dick Durbin spokesman Ben Marter says railroad executive chairman Matt Rose told Durbin that the cause of the train derailment March 5 is a wheel malfunction. Marter says the Senator didn’t elaborate more on what that means, but he did say the definitive cause won’t be known until the Federal Railroad Association releases the results of its investigation.

Many train derailment or other accidents have been caused by wheel malfunction.  Basically, the wheel of a box or tank car breaks, causing the derailment.  Sometimes the wheel brakes and there is no derailment.  But with the tank cars carrying sloshing fluid, derailment is very often the case than not.
At other times, the top rail breaks and that causes the derailment.  And so on.

BNSF spokesman Mike Trevino refused to reveal the details of the CEO’s conversation with the Senator. Kevin Thompson with the Federal Railroad Administration said he could not confirm any specific cause and said his agency was still investigating.

The derailment caused several cars, which were carrying crude oil from North Dakota, to catch fire.

Last week, railroad officials led a tour of the site to show its efforts to minimize the environmental impact.

“Stricter standards are needed to prevent these fiery train derailments from occurring. BNSF and other railway companies will be critical partners in our ongoing efforts to ensure that our communities are safe during the transport of potentially dangerous and combustible products,” Durbin said in a statement on his website about his meeting with Rose.