Train derailments

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Spain Experiences its Worst Train Accident in 40 Years An increase in train derailments was one of the first symptoms of the approach of Planet X to become noticeable, being expressed even before Planet X entered the inner solar system in 2003. Planet X was described as affecting the Earth from afar, like tugging on the edge of a spider web where the effects are felt elsewhere on the web; in this way there has been an increase in earthquakes and unpredictable weather going back years, even before Planet X entered the solar system, due to the increased swirling of the Earth’s core. It is therefore logical that an increase in train derailments would accompany any increase in seismic activity – train tracks need to be straight and even the slightest shift to the side of a section of track would cause a train to derail. The area most affected by train derailments is the stretch zone.  Stretch zone quakes are silent, and people are generally unaware anything is happening, although signs such as booms and trumpet sounds can occur. This zone stretches from Western Europe across the Eurasian Plate, and also includes the South-East United States, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Red Sea and the African Rift. In other parts of the world, shifting ground is more associated with earthquakes that people are aware of, such as the Pacific which is compressing, so authorities inspect railway tracks after any seismic activity, reducing the likelihood of accidents. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some Examples (click on pictures for link):

[KM]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24595870

Argentine train crashes into Buenos Aires Once station

The train ended up wedged between the floor and ceiling of the platform at Once station

A commuter train in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, has crashed at the end of the line, leaving at least 80 people injured.

The train failed to stop as it arrived at Once station, crashing through the buffers and ending up wedged between the floor and ceiling of the platform.

The accident happened at the same station where 51 people were killed in a similar crash last year.

The cause of the accident remains unclear.

Saturday's crash happened shortly after 07:00 local time (10:00 GMT).

The line from Moreno 40km (25 miles) west of Buenos Aires to Once station, operated by the Sarmiento train company, is normally a busy commuter line during the week, and its trains are usually packed with passengers.

Security Secretary Sergio Berni said some of those injured on Saturday had been waiting on the platform and were hurt by flying glass as the train's windows shattered.

Jorge Ramirez, a chef who got on the train nine stations before the end of the line, told the AP news agency the accident was "a tragedy".

"I saw people hurt, shouting, others thrown on the floor. The people in the first wagon ended up piled on top of each other," he said.

After the 2012 crash, the authorities revoked a local company's right to operate trains on the line and pledged to make new investments in safety.

But commuters complain of frequent delays and bad service, and it is not uncommon to see travellers crammed into trains on their way to work, says the BBC's Ignacio de los Reyes in Buenos Aires.

[KM]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/a-look-at-train-accidents-in-canada-ov...

These are some of the more major incidents that have occured...

The latest train accident near Gainford, Alta is just one of many that have taken place in the last five months.

Here's a look at some of the accidents involving trains in Canada since May of 2013:

Oct. 19, 2013: Thirteen CN tanker cars -- four laden with petroleum crude oil and nine carrying liquefied petroleum gas -- came off the rails just after midnight in the hamlet of Gainford, about 80 kms west of Edmonton. At least two explosions and a massive fire followed, but there were no early reports of injuries.

Oct 17, 2013: Residents in the northwestern Alberta town of Sexsmith were forced from their homes after four CN rail cars carrying anhydrous ammonia left the rails. The cars remained upright and there were no leaks.

Oct. 7, 2013: Four empty tanker cars that had been used to carry jet fuel went off the track in Brampton, Ont. A CN employee suffered minor injuries and the derailment caused commuter delays for GO Train travellers.

Sept. 25, 2013: Seventeen CN rail cars, some carrying flammable petroleum, ethanol and chemicals, came off the tracks near the village of Landis, in western Saskatchewan, in the middle of the night. A nearby school was closed as hazardous material crews cleaned up spilled oil. No one was injured.

Sept. 18, 2013: Crossing lights, bells and gates were all reported to have been activated when an Ottawa city bus collided with a Via Rail passenger train west of the capital. Six people on the bus were killed, including the driver, and more than 30 passengers were injured. No one on the train was hurt.

Sep 11, 2013: Eight cars of a Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying a diluting agent used in oil pipelines derailed at a rail yard in southeast Calgary. There were no injuries and no leaks from the cars, which were left lying on their sides. More than 140 homes were evacuated briefly.

July 27, 2013: A CPR locomotive and seven tanker cars carrying oil left the tracks in Lloydminister, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary. Some diesel spilled from the locomotive and was contained. RCMP said nothing spilled from the cars, no one was injured and no evacuations were necessary.

Jul 8, 2013: An ammonia leak from a train caused the evacuation of roughly one-quarter of the population of the small northern Ontario town of Gogoma. No one was injured.

July 6, 2013: A runaway train of 72 tank cars loaded with a volatile crude oil crashed and exploded in the centre of Lac-Megantic, Que., killing 47 people and destroying half the downtown area. The train, owned by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, was unmanned at the time.

June 27, 2013: Seven cars derailed as a bridge over the flood-swollen Bow River in Calgary collapsed as a CPR train tried to cross it. Five cars carried petroleum products, one was filled with ethylene glycol and one was empty. No spills or injuries were reported but Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi demanded answers.

June 2, 2013: Eleven CPR rail cars derailed on a trestle bridge near Wanup, east of Sudbury, Ont. There were no injuries, but the cars were carrying containers of consumer goods and about half of them entered a nearby river, prompting a drinking-water advisory.

May 23, 2013: Police in the southern Alberta community of Okotoks had to respond to an unusual call when a runaway train car rumbled through town. They said the wayward train car was empty and eventually stopped when it bounced off the tracks. No one was injured and CPR attributed the incident to vandalism.

May 21, 2013: Five cars on a CPR train derailed near the village of Jansen in southeastern Saskatchewan and one of them spilled more than 91,000 litres of oil. There were no injuries

[Howard]

Fuel Tanker Train Derails in Alberta, Closes Highway, Area Evacuated (Oct 19)
Emergency crews are battling a massive fire after a tanker train carrying oil and gas derailed west of Edmonton overnight.

Thirteen cars — four carrying petroleum crude oil and nine carrying liquefied petroleum gas — came off the tracks around 1 a.m. in the hamlet of Gainford, about 80 kilometres west of Edmonton on Highway 16, authorities said Saturday.

The westbound CN Rail train derailed along Highway 16 and Range Road 61.

One resident described hearing a series of crashes moments before he saw a “huge, huge fireball” shoot into the sky.

“The fireball was so big, it shot across both lanes of the Yellowhead (Highway) and now both lanes of the Yellowhead are closed and there’s fire on both sides,” said the witness.

Two cars containing gas are leaking, and officials said they fear there could be an explosion.

“It’s still leaking, so there is that risk of explosion,” said Carson Mills, spokesman for Parkland County, which includes Gainford.

“It’s still a risky situation so we need to contain as much as possible and keep people far away.”

Parkland County has declared a local state of emergency for Gainford and the immediate surrounding area. All area residents are to avoid the area until further notice.

The entire community of roughly 100 has been evacuated, Mills said.

A reception centre has been set up at the Entwistle Community Centre.

Parkland County and Yellowhead County fire crews are on scene, alongside the Edmonton Fire Rescue’s hazardous materials team and Edmonton police helicopter Air One.

Mills said residents reported seeing a huge fireball shoot across Highway 16 after the derailment.

A stretch of the highway, also known as the Yellowhead, has been shut down due to the fire, he said.

Highway 16 traffic has been rerouted north along secondary Highway 765, westbound along secondary Highway 633 and returning southbound on secondary Highway 757. The portion of the highway is expected to be rerouted for the next 24 to 48 hours.

The Transportation Safety Board said it has deployed a team of investigators to the scene.

Gainford is about 20 kilometres west of Wabamun, where on Aug. 3, 2005, 43 cars of a westbound CN freight train derailed, spilling 700,000 litres of heavy fuel oil and 88,000 litres of pole treating oil into and around Wabamun Lake, and forcing the evacuation of 20 people.

Sources

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Huge+fireball+streaks+across+Ye...

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Huge+huge+fireball+erupts+after+tra...

[Sandor Daranyi]

Dozens hurt in Buenos Aires train wreck

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/19/world/americas/argentina-train-cr...

(CNN) -- At least 35 people were injured Saturday morning when a train crashed in a Buenos Aires neighborhood, Argentina's Security Secretary Sergio Berni told state news agency Telam.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Saturday's crash comes four months after two commuter trains collided near the Argentine capital, killing at least three people and injuring hundreds more.

"In addition to solidarity and pain, I feel anger and impotence," President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said in June. "Because the truth is, we are putting everything (into the train system), not just economic resources and investment, but also time and human resources. When things like this happen, it hurts all of us."

And in February 2012, a commuter train on the same rail line crashed into a barrier at a station in Buenos Aires, killing 50 people and injuring hundreds.

That crash sparked a criminal investigation. More than two dozen suspects, including former government officials, were accused of mismanagement and defrauding the public.

Now, a government consortium oversees the train line, rather than a private company.

In 1970, 200 people died when two trains crashed north of Buenos Aires.

Eight years later, 56 people were killed when a train hit a truck in Argentina's Santa Fe province, the state news agency reported.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://en.trend.az/regions/casia/uzbekistan/2200183.html

Tajik passenger train crashes in Uzbekistan

10 October 2013, 22:05 (GMT+05:00)

Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Oct. 10 /Trend, D. Azizov/

About 30 people were injured because of the derailment of five coaches of a Tajik passenger train, which was passing through Uzbekistan's territory, a source in the Ozbekiston temir yollari (Uzbekistan Railways) told Trend on Thursday.

According to the representative of the railway company, five cars of the train that was on the Dushanbe-Kanibadam route derailed at low speeds in the Gallyaral district of Jizzakh oblast on Thursday at around 10:00.

According to preliminary reports, the victims of the accident did not get life-threatening injuries. All of them were taken to the local hospital, where they received the necessary medical assistance.

The Dushanbe-Kanibadam train connects Tajikistan's capital with the northern Sughd oblast of the republic.

But the most part of its route accounts for Uzbekistan, because there is not a direct railway between these parts of Tajikistan.

An investigation is underway at the scene of the accident.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://myfox8.com/2013/10/01/two-train-cars-derail-in-rockingham-co...

Train derails in Rockingham County (Photos)

Posted on: 10:01 am, October 1, 2013, by Web Staff, updated on: 11:04am, October 1, 2013

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — Three train cars derailed in Rockingham County on Tuesday, however no injuries were reported.

The train cars derailed at Ruffin Road and Lick Fork Creek Road around 9 a.m. One of the derailed cars was carrying paper and the other two were empty.

The 95-car train was headed from Linwood to Allentown, Pa.

“An Amtrak train passes by this location about 2 or 3 a.m.,  but we anticipate having the derailment cleaned up by then, so passenger traffic will not be affected,” Robin C. Chapman, Director of Public Relations at Norfolk Southern Corporation, said in an e-mail.

Norfolk Southern is working to resolve the derailed train cars.

The cause of the derailment has not been determined.

No other information is available at this time.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/leaking+after+train+derails+west...

Train car leaks oil, school closed, after CN train derails near Landis

THE CANADIAN PRESS SEPTEMBER 25, 2013 4:52 PM

LANDIS, Sask. - Hazardous material crews were cleaning up oil spilled from a Canadian National train car that derailed close to a small community in western Saskatchewan early Wednesday.

RCMP said 17 rail cars — some carrying flammable petroleum, ethanol and chemicals — came off the tracks after 4 a.m. within 500 to 700 metres of the village of Landis, west of Saskatoon.

"The spill involved a petroleum product that is not considered highly explosive," Sgt. Grant Rusk said.

"Because of the flammable nature of some of the other rail-car contents, and the proximity to Landis and the school, the decision was made to close the Landis School for the day while the contents of the damaged cars were unloaded."

No one was injured.

Warren Chandler, a spokesman for CN (TSX:CNR), said it was not clear how much oil spilled, but that the oil was concentrated along the right of way of its the transcontinental rail line.

Chandler said some of the cars were on their sides and CN crews were working to clean up the area.

"One of the derailed cars is leaking lube oil," he said from Edmonton.

"CN crews immediately began a process using vacuum trucks to contain and reclaim the leaking product."

The Saskatchewan government said one of the other derailed cars contains ethanol and was on its side, but was not leaking.

Premier Brad Wall said most goods shipped by train move safely across Canada and railways are needed.

But he said the spill is another chance to talk about the benefit of pipelines.

"There is a debate though now that's precipitated by Keystone and by (the proposed Northern) Gateway and maybe by the Energy East pipeline, about what is the safest way to move certain products," Wall said in Regina.

"We think it's an all-of-the-above proposition. We are going to be railing more oil out of this province, that's just the fact of the matter. We're doing it now and frankly doing it efficiently and safely for the most part, again from a statistical standpoint.

"But we need pipelines. We need them and we need to be unequivocal that pipelines are still certainly the best way."

Greenpeace Canada said the derailment was an example of the perils of shipping oil by rail.

"How much longer are they willing to gamble on unsafe rail cars carrying ever-increasing amounts of oil through our communities,” Greenpeace spokesman Keith Stewart said in a release.

Greenpeace and other organizations have called on the federal government to ban the shipping of oil in older tanker cars that have been identified as spill-prone.

The groups also want an independent safety review of all hydrocarbon transportation, including pipelines, rail, tanker and truck.

RCMP said the cars that went off of the tracks were in the middle of the 560-metre-long freight train and no other vehicle was involved in the derailment.

Fire crews from nearby communities put out a grass fire in a ditch caused by the derailment, but police said none of the rail cars caught fire.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it is sending an investigator to the site. The TSB is an independent agency that investigates marine, pipeline, railway and aviation transportation occurrences. It looks at ways to prevent similar incidents, but does not assign blame.

Rogers Communications said the derailment severed cables which temporarily cut wireless services Wednesday morning for many of its customers in Western Canada.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

From Saturday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r91F7oyW...

http://www.theindependent.com/news/local/train-derails-near-central...

Train derails near Central City

CENTRAL CITY — An eastbound Union Pacific train headed from California to Chicago derailed near Central City at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

“There were no injuries,” said Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis. “The cause of the derailment is under investigation.”

All 42 cars that went off the tracks were flat cars loaded with ocean-going containers. Those containers had everything from electronics to batteries to apparel and other consumer goods loaded in them, Davis said.

“Crews worked throughout the night to move the rail cars off the tracks and to begin repairs,” Davis said.

Both tracks there were damaged. A total of 800 feet of rail had to be replaced on one track and 2,000 feet of rail needed to be replaced on the other, he said.

One track was expected to reopen at 5 p.m. Sunday. It’s unknown when the second track will reopen, Davis said.

As of late Sunday afternoon, 20 trains had been detoured to other routes around the damage. Another 40 trains sat idle waiting for the tracks to clear, he said.

The derailment occurred at Highway 30 and 21st Street.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.wavy.com/news/local/csx-train-derails-injuring-two

Virginia train derailment 

SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) - A CSX train derailed in Southampton County early Thursday morning, injuring a conductor and engineer and sparking a fire.

Maj. Gene Drewery with the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office said deputies received a call from CSX that a train derailed between the Dominion Power Plant and the Ashland Chemical Plant around 2:30 a.m.

Drewery said the train was slowing into the chemical plant when it derailed. There was a diesel fuel spill, but there was not a chemical spill. Two locomotives and nine cars were involved.

The crash also caused a large fire, which Drewery said spread to trees along the side of the tracks, but was later contained.

An engineer and a conductor were transported from the scene with injuries. "They were disoriented, our officers just opened the door and helped them get out of the train and get off because of the fire," Drewery said. One was treated at Southampton Memorial Hospital, and the other was transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. They were released from the hospital Thursday.

Donald Case said he used to work for CSX and drove from Richmond to check on the crash. "It's a bad one. I mean the pictures I saw on the news this morning looked pretty rough. So I rode down there to see if I could see anything," Case said.

Case said he knows the two men who were on the train, and was thankful they were not seriously hurt. "They really are lucky. They could have been killed real easy," Case said.

The train is made up of 41 cars which were carrying mixed freight. The train originated in Portsmouth and was en route to Rocky Mount, N.C.

It was not clear Thursday afternoon when the track would reopen. Investigators said it could take weeks to determine the cause of the derailment.

[KM]

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/11/calgary-train-derailment-se...

Calgary Train Derailment, Several Cars On Their Side (PHOTOS, UPDATED)

The Huffington Post Alberta  |  Posted: 09/11/2013 7:37 pm EDT  |  Updated: 09/12/2013 10:09 am EDT

A train has derailed in southeast Calgary. (GC Light, Twitter)

Eight cars of a CP Rail train derailed Wednesday at a rail yard in southeast Calgary.

The derailment occurred at a track along 19 Ave. and 15 Street in the Aylth railroads.

Company spokesman Ed Greenberg says there were no injuries and there was no leakage from the cars, which are lying on their sides at the Alyth Yard.

The cars were carrying a diluting agent used in oil pipelines.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said there was briefly a small evacuation of the immediate area but everyone has since been allowed to return home.

He said Blackfoot Trail, a major commuter route, would be closed overnight but crews were working to ensure it could be reopened by morning.

Evacuations took place between 13th and 15th street south of 9th Avenue.

Calgary Police Service Duty Inspector Leah Barber told CTV Calgary several tanker cars left the rail, before coming to a rest on their side.

Barber also said there are reports a hissing noise could be heard coming from several cars.

The derailment also closed 15 Street between 9 Ave., according to 660 News.

CP Rail official Ed Greenberg told CTV Calgary the derailment occurred while a northbound train was leaving the Alyth yard at 4:55 p.m.

Greenberg says the north-bound train was moving at a slow speed when the cars left the tracks Wednesday afternoon.

He says the company has launched an investigation to determine what happened.