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U.S. NEWS Monday 13 March 2017
Safety official wants rail cars

replaced faster after fire

GRAETTINGER, Iowa (AP) tears from couplers that
— A federal safety official can fly up after ripping off
called on the rail industry between cars.
to move faster to upgrade Sumwalt said few crude oil
aging rail tankers following shippers now use the older
a fiery train derailment in tankers, after recent em-
rural Iowa that spilled etha- phasis in the industry about
nol into a creek and was the danger of it.
still burning nearly two days “But meanwhile, people
after it erupted. have forgotten about the
A Union Pacific train haul- potential hazard of trans-
ing 99 tankers of ethanol porting ethanol using these
from a producer in Omaha, cars,” he said. “We would
Nebraska, derailed around like to see the shippers ac-
1 a.m. Friday on a trestle celerate their schedule to In this photo made from a video shot and provided by KTIV,
several tank cars burn after a freight train, carrying ethanol,
bridge spanning Jack get these legacy DOT-111 derailed around 1 a.m., Friday, March 10, 2017, near the small
Creek near Graettinger, tank cars out of service community of Graettinger in northwestern Iowa.
about 160 miles northwest when transporting flam- Associated Press
of Des Moines. It sent off the mable liquids — specifically
tracks 20 tanker cars con- crude oil and ethanol.” can-shaped rail tankers by sooner. Those that carry
sidered by federal investi- There have been at least 2029, although most would ethanol would have to be
gators as older, less sturdy seven significant accidents have to come off the tracks replaced by 2023.q
tanks set to be phased out involving trains hauling
over the next dozen years. ethanol since 2006 that re-
Fifteen of them caught leased a combined 2 mil-
fire, National Transporta- lion gallons of the fuel.
tion Safety Board member “God forbid this happens
Robert Sumwalt said at a in a community or with
news conference Saturday people sitting in their cars
evening. The train left from waiting for the train to go
a plant in Superior, Iowa, by. It’s not like we haven’t
heading for Texas City, Tex- seen that kind of trag-
as, he said. edy before,” said Karen
The derailment in Iowa Darch, co-chair of an Illi-
happened miles from any nois-based coalition of lo-
communities, and no one cal officials, called TRAC,
was injured. The fire oc- that has pushed for rail
casionally sent explosions safety enhancements. The
and fireballs high into the group was formed after a
sky as highly flammable 2009 derailment of ethanol
ethanol fumes poured from tankers killed a woman at
the ruptured tanks. NTSB a crossing in Cherry Val-
officials said that some of ley, Illinois. Darch is village
the tankers, which carry president of neighboring
about 25,000 gallons each, Barrington, Illinois.
had spilled ethanol into the Even though investigators
creek, but environmental have not been able to ex-
officials don’t believe it’s amine the site of the Iowa
enough to be toxic to wild- derailment because of the
life or fish. fire, they have interviewed
Iowa Natural Resources the derailed train’s two-
field office manager Ken- man crew, as well as the
neth Hessenius said Fri- crew of a train that passed
day that checks of water through the area around
downstream found no ob- midday Thursday, Sumwalt
vious signs of a spill. said.
Two tankers were still burn- “Neither of these crews saw
ing by 7 p.m. Saturday, anything unusual,” he said.
Sumwalt said. He said the Nothing that would have
train consisted solely of an been an obvious cause of
older type of car known as the derailment was spot-
the DOT-111. The agency ted from viewing a front-
deemed that tanker a haz- facing video taken from
ard as far back as 1991, a camera in the derailed
noting its steel shell is too train’s locomotive, he said.
thin to resist puncture in Federal rules enacted in
accidents. The ends are 2015 call for replacing or
especially vulnerable to retrofitting the aging, soda