TRAIN DERAILMENT IN DUBUQUE IOWA, CARRYING ETHANOL. 3 TRAIN CARS ON FIRE; 3 TRAIN CARS IN RIVER; ETHANOL LEAKING INTO THE RIVER

 

TRAIN DERAILMENT IN DUBUQUE IOWA, CARRYING ETHANOL. 3 TRAIN CARS ON FIRE; 3 TRAIN CARS IN RIVER; ETHANOL LEAKING INTO THE RIVER

Iowa Department of Natural Resources staff are on the scene of a train derailment north of Dubuque, but a spokesman for the agency says a risk of explosion and lack of vehicle access are prohibiting responders from getting too close.

Posted: Wednesday, February 4, 2015 

UPDATE

Dubuque Fire Chief Rick Steines just provided an update at the scene.

He confirmed that three railcars are on fire and that another three have plunged into the Mississippi River.

In all, 11 cars derailed, and 10 of them were carrying ethanol, he said. Ethanol is spilling into the river, but it's unclear at what rate, he said.

Authorities have instituted a half-mile evacuation zone as a precaution, but there are no occupied structures in that radius.

Residents living on Creek Valley Road, located just south of the derailment scene, are dealing with limited road access.

Sherill resident Angela Steffens, who lives at 23930 Creek Valley Road, told TH Media that police were blocking the intersection of Creek Valley Road and Balltown Road when she arrived home this afternoon. She also noted that she had observed a HazMat vehicle in the area.

Dubuque Community School District spokesman Mike Cyze said the presence of emergency vehicles has forced the district to make special accommodations for students living on Creek Valley Road.

"The bus could not make it to one home on Creek Valley Road, so the district made arrangements with the parents for an alternate pick up location," he said.

The affected family has students attending both Sageville Elementary and

Jefferson Middle School, Cyze said.

UPDATE

Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman Kevin Baskins said at 3 p.m. that at least three DNR officials are on scene, but they have been unable to get anywhere near the derailed train.

"We are being kept about a mile or a mile and a half away," he said.

Baskins said the primary problem is a lack of vehicle access to the area in which the derailment occurred.

"Another part of the concern is the tanks are pressurized so there is an explosion risk," he said.

Baskins said one train car appeared to be leaking ethanol toward the Mississippi River. DNR officials have been unable to conduct a full assessment of the situation, however.

UPDATE

Scanner traffic indicates the scope of the derailment and fire might be larger than previously reported.

At about 1:40 p.m., responders at the the scene described 11 cars derailed, with three burning, according to scanner traffic.

Reached at 2:10 p.m., a Canadian Pacific spokeswoman said she could not confirm those new details.

Equipment from Canadian Pacific is expected to arrive between 5 and 7 p.m., traffic indicates.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman Kevin Baskins said DNR response crews from Manchester had been sent to the scene.

The DNR is involved because of concerns that ethanol could contaminate the Mississippi River, he said.

"Any kind of hazard or pollutant that gets into the river is something that we would respond to," Baskins explained.

Baskins said the DNR has notified cities located downstream about the incident, including Davenport, Burlington and Keokuk.

Other entities notified include the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Environmental Protection Agency, he said.

UPDATE

An email from Canadian Pacific to TH Media says an eastbound freight train derailed at about 11:20 a.m. All six cars that derailed were carrying ethanol.

"Initial reports indicate one car is on fire," the email from Salem Woodrow said. "There were no injuries to our crew."

In a follow-up phone call, Woodrow said there were two crew members on the train, both of whom are safe.

The email says that CP's "emergency protocols were immediately enacted." Those protocols include contacting local emergency responders, as well as emergency response teams from Canadian Pacific, Woodrow said. 

“Canadian Pacific has emergency response trailers and equipment strategically located across our entire network so we can deploy them to the necessary location when an emergency occurs,” said Woodrow.

She was unable to immediately confirm where Canadian Pacific’s closest emergency response equipment or officials were based.

While she did confirm that six cars had derailed, Woodrow was not able to specify the total number of rail cars on the train.

An Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman says his department also has someone going to the scene to see if there's a spill that needs attention.

UPDATE

One railcar is on fire after six derailed about 10 miles north of Dubuque at about 11:40 a.m. today.

The burning railcar is carrying gasoline, according to Dubuque County Sheriff's Department Deputy Todd George.

Authorities say the derailment is about halfway between Finley's Landing and North/South Waupeton Road, along the Mississippi River on the Iowa side.

Canadian Pacific said in a tweet that it is responding to a six-car train derailment north of Dubuque.

"All safety precautions & measures being taken. No injuries reported," the tweet read.

Scanner traffic indicated the burning car was pulled away from other railcars.

Responders are establishing a command center in the vicinity of Creek Valley Road. Deputies have blocked traffic on the road, except for emergency vehicles. In addition to fire crews, hazardous materials teams are on scene. The location of the derailment, not near a major road, are slowing down response efforts, however.

Dubuque County Emergency Management Director Tom Berger and representatives from the railroad have not returned calls about the incident as of 12:15 p.m.

Scanner traffic indicates that CP staff are responding to the scene and are expected on scene at about 1 p.m.

Michael Breitbach, a bartender at Breitbach’s Country Dining in Sherrill, Iowa, estimated that the derailment occurred about two miles from the diner, 563 Balltown Road.

He learned about the derailment from a customer who had viewed it from a nearby ridge.

“A gentlemen came into the bar recently and said he could see smoke and flames,” he said.

Breitbach said the location of the accident could complicate efforts to respond.

“From my understanding, where the accident occurred, it is not accessible by road,” he said. “They may have to go through a farmer's field to get there.

//__________________________________________________________//


 

FIERY DERAILMENT NEAR DUBUQUE INVOLVED OUTDATED TANK CARS.  DOT-111S PRONE TO PUNCTURE, BUT STILL HEAVILY USED.  COST TO UPGRADE IS THE KEY ISSUE.

An aerial shot of the derailed train north of Dubuque. (Charlie Schurmann/KCRG-TV9)

February 4, 2015 

DUBUQUE COUNTY — A train derailment Wednesday near Dubuque that caused three tank cars to erupt in flames and three others to plunge into the icy Mississippi River involved outdated cars prone to punctures and spills. 

The Canadian Pacific freight train headed southeast derailed around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in a remote area north of Dubuque. Eleven cars left the track, with 10 of those carrying ethanol, officials reported. Three of those cars caught fire and three slipped into the river. 

“I can confirm that DOT-111s were involved, how many of the derailed cars were DOT-111s I am not sure yet,” Canadian Pacific Spokesman Jeremy Berry reported Wednesday evening.

DOT-111s, black, tubed-shaped tank cars, make up about 70 percent of the U.S. tank car fleet. The outdated cars have been blamed for explosions and spills during derailments across North America. In the worst of these crashes, 47 people died when a runaway train of crude oil in DOT-111 cars exploded in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, July 6, 2013. 

In July, the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed a two-year phase out of DOT-111s for carrying some flammable liquids, such as crude oil and ethanol, unless the tanks are retrofitted. The rail car supply industry has so far built more than 17,000 upgraded tankers that include thicker steel, stronger end caps and more protection for top fittings, Tom Simpson, president of the Railway Supply Institute, a trade group that acts on behalf of suppliers to North American railroads, told The Gazette in April. The group expect to have 55,000 by the end of 2015.

Tens of thousands of the cars are still in use because of the high volume of crude oil being shipped from the Bakken region or North Dakota, Montana and Canada. 

Nine Iowa counties, including five along the Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa, see rail shipments of 1 million gallons or more of extra-flammable Bakken crude, The Gazette reported in June. 

“You have these older cars that don’t meet the specs carrying these flammable liquids, this is what you’re going to get,” Albert Ratner, a University of Iowa associate professor of mechanical engineering who studies fires during train derailments, said about Wednesday’s crash.

No one was injured in the derailment. Because the tracks run between the river and a steep, snow-covered slope, fire crews were not able to put out the blaze Wednesday, the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The derailment could have caused more damage in a metropolitan area, Ratner said. The snow also likely reduced the potential for nearby trees catching fire. But because DOT-111s are notorious for breaking apart in derailments, ethanol could have spilled from the tank cars into the Mississippi, Ratner said.

“You could have problems with it going downstream and spreading out the environmental effect,” he said. 

Canadian Pacific officials were still gathering information Wednesday evening.

“Safety is the priority and we take these incidents seriously,” Spokeswoman Salem Woodrow wrote in an email. “CP’s emergency protocols were immediately enacted and all safety precautions and measures are being taken as our crews respond to the incident.”

//_________________________________//

Outdated Rail Cars Carry Dangerous Loads Through Iowa

By Erin Jordan, The Gazette 

Story Created: May 18, 2014 at 10:24 PM CDT 

FAIRFAX, Iowa — Will Forester spends his days fixing boats. But he thinks about trains.

Every 10 to 20 minutes, he hears the horn of a Union Pacific train as it approaches Forester Marine in downtown Fairfax. The freight trains hauling coal hoppers, tank cars and flatbeds roar by his boat-repair shop, shaking the century-old former depot and making Forester’s ears ring.

“They go by at about 70 miles per hour,” Forester said. “It’s just pretty fast for a little town.” 

Included on those trains are DOT-111s, tank cars used to carry ethanol, crude oil and other hazardous liquids across the country despite concerns about the cars’ risk of puncture and fire in a derailment.

Several high-profile train wrecks, including a fiery crash in Canada last summer that killed 47 people, have renewed scrutiny of the DOT-111s, regarded in Iowa and across the nation as the workhorse of the energy industry.

Although never intended for high-speed use, DOT-111s may be driven through some parts of Iowa at nearly four times their recommended speed.

The Canadian government has ordered all DOT-111 cars be upgraded within three years. So far, the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued only piecemeal restrictions and voluntary recommendations. 

Outdated cars, hazardous loads

The next time you’re stopped for a train, look for black, tube-shaped tank cars. Those are likely DOT-111s.

“At any one time, you can see literally dozens and dozens of 111s going by,” said Tom Ulrich, operation officer for the Linn County Emergency Management Agency. 

If a train derails, hazardous-materials teams are charged with preventing leaks that might cause fire, an explosion or a spill that could damage the environment or kill animals. But officials don’t always know the type or volume of hazardous materials moving through their jurisdictions. 

A 2010 commodity study in Johnson County showed 443 million gallons of flammable liquids traveled the Iowa Interstate Railroad, which runs through Iowa City. Flammables included ethanol, petroleum products and paint.

Another 2.3 million gallons of corrosives — including hydrochloric acid, battery acid and potassium hydroxide — shipped via Iowa Interstate and Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railroad (CRANDIC) in 2010, the study showed. 

Other hazardous materials moving by rail in Johnson County in 2010 included environmentally hazardous substances, anhydrous ammonia and pesticides.

Linn County almost certainly has higher volumes, Ulrich said. But officials won’t know until after a regional commodity study starting this summer. 

Linn County will contribute $9,000 to the first phase of the study, which eventually will include Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clayton, Clinton, Delaware, Fayette, Jackson and Jones counties. The local emergency planning committee for the smaller counties already has received $18,000 in Homeland Security grants toward the project, committee chairman Mike Ryan said. 

Most rail transport safe

Most hazardous materials are shipped via rail without incident, said Tom Simpson, president of the Railway Supply Institute, a trade group that acts on behalf of suppliers to North American railroads. 

“Over 99 percent of hazardous shipments arrive safely,” he said. “DOT-111’s operate every day of the year safely. They have been built to the standards the DOT has in place.” 

There are about 97,000 DOT-111s carrying flammable liquids across the country, Simpson said. More than 40 percent of the cars are carrying crude oil and another 30 percent are freighting ethanol. 

“You can see the DOT-111s are an important part of our domestic energy-development service,” he said. 

The rail car industry started making safer tank cars in 2011, but with a national uptick in crude production, the DOT-111s are critical to shipping oil from places such as North Dakota and Colorado to refineries in Texas and Louisiana. 

Bakken crude a concern

The Bakken formation, which covers about 200,000 square miles in North Dakota, Montana and Canada, has been known to be a vast oil source since the 1950s. But hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has boomed in recent years.

Bakken crude has more flammable gasses and is more likely to explode, the federal government has warned.

Forty-seven people were killed July 6 when a runaway 74-car freight train derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. The train, carrying Bakken crude in DOT-111 tank cars, started fire and several tank cars exploded, destroying more than 30 buildings. 

The area was flooded with crude and other chemicals that are still being cleaned up today.

A train carrying crude nearly toppled a bridge in Philadelphia in January, and another crude oil train derailed and caught fire in downtown Lynchburg, Va., last month. That fire caused an evacuation of hundreds of people and spilled oil into the James River.

It’s hard to tell where Bakken oil is being shipped in Iowa.

Canadian Pacific, which describes itself as the “only rail carrier providing single line haul service between the Bakken and major crude oil markets in the Northeastern United States,” has an online map showing routes that appear to go from Mason City through Eastern Iowa towns that include New Hampton, Postville and Marquette.

A 2012 crude-by-rail map published by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration shows heavy Bakken transports along the Canadian Pacific line that runs on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River.

Officials from Canadian Pacific and Union Pacific would not confirm whether Bakken oil is being shipped on their railroads.

“For security reasons, we don’t provide specifics,” Canadian Press spokesman Ed Greenberg said.

Onna Houck, corporate counsel for Iowa Interstate Railroad, said the company does not ship Bakken oil on its 500 miles of track in Iowa.

Starting in June, railroads that ship 1 million gallons of more of Bakken crude on a single train must notify each state’s emergency response commission, according to a May 7 emergency order from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Ethanol shipped in DOT-111s

Ethanol also can be dangerous when it’s shipped in outdated tank cars.

An Oct. 7, 2011, trip on the Iowa Interstate Railroad ended in disaster when 26 cars jumped the tracks near Tiskilwa, Ill. Of 10 DOT-111s carrying ethanol, three erupted in massive fireballs causing officials to evacuate the town of 750 people, the National Transportation and Safety Board reported.

“The poor performance of DOT-111 general specification tank cars in derailments suggests that DOT-111 tank cars are inadequately designed to prevent punctures and breaches, and that catastrophic release of hazardous materials can be expected,” the NTSB said. 

Iowa Interstate Railroad ships ethanol from plants with a combined capacity of more than 1 billion gallons, Houck said. Railroads can’t reject legal loads, even if the freight is hazardous material.

As the shippers own or lease the rail cars, railroads have little say over the use of DOT-111s.

ADM, which produces ethanol as part of its grain-processing operations in Cedar Rapids, declined to speak with The Gazette about its use of DOT-111s. Penford Products, which also has an ethanol plant, did not return calls seeking an interview.

Speed can influence derailments

It’s not just the materials inside a train but the speed that can increase risk.

Albert Ratner, a University of Iowa associate professor of mechanical engineering who studies fires during train derailments, said DOT-111s were designed to drive about 18 miles per hour. With less than half an inch of steel around the center, weak end caps and easily damaged valves, the DOT-111 doesn’t hold up well in a crash, he said.

“If you’re in areas where they’re going 40, 50 miles an hour, you’re really rolling the dice because if the car derails, the car’s not designed for that,” Ratner said. 

Emergency manager Ulrich agreed.

“When they derail, even at low speeds, there’s the opportunity for the valving to shear off, top and bottom, and for the tank itself to be compromised,” he said.

The Union Pacific line through Fairfax has a speed limit of 70 miles per hour, with engineers reducing the speed to 50 mph only if there are 20 or more cars with hazardous materials, Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said. 

“In a lot of rural communities, faster is better because the crossings aren’t blocked for as long,” Davis said. 

The speed limit on Iowa Interstate Railroad is 40 mph. Canadian Pacific’s tracks through Iowa vary from 10 to 40 mph.

Stopgaps and precautions

The rail car supply industry so far has built more than 17,000 upgraded tankers that include thicker steel, stronger end caps and more protection for top fittings, Simpson said. They will have 55,000 by the end of 2015.

But until the DOT-111s can be replaced, the industry is using stopgaps and precautions. 

The UI’s Ratner has researched fuel additives that prevent mist, which is often what ignites in a train derailment. The additives can save lives but cost five to 10 cents per gallon, he said. 

Canadian Pacific introduced a $325-per-car surcharge in March for all older tank cars as a way to encourage shippers to upgrade, Greenberg said. 

Union Pacific tries to keep its tracks in top condition to prevent derailments, invests heavily in education for employees about hauling hazardous materials and works with emergency managers in every county, Davis said.

Still, accidents happen. A train on UP lines dumped 6,500 gallons of oil during a derailment May 9 near LaSalle, Colo.

“We have to work with our customers to help make the transportation of their products safer,” Davis said.