Posted on 10/21/2013 5:30:12 AM PDT by thackney
Emergency crews battled a massive fire Saturday after a Canadian National tanker train carrying oil and gas derailed west of Edmonton, Alberta, overnight. No injuries have been reported so far.
Canadian National spokesman Louis-Antoine Paquin said 13 cars — four carrying petroleum crude oil and nine loaded with liquified petroleum gas — came off the tracks around 1 a.m. local time in the hamlet of Gainford, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Edmonton. The entire community of roughly 100 people was evacuated.
Paquin says three cars containing gas were leaking and on fire. Local officials feared there could be an explosion and declared a state of emergency.
“It’s still a risky situation so we need to contain as much as possible and keep people far away,” said Carson Mills, spokesman for Parkland County, which includes Gainford.
A resident described hearing a series of crashes moments before a huge fireball shot 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 a witness identified only as Duane.
Regulation: New crude transport rules to boost rail costs
The train was travelling from Edmonton to Vancouver, British Columbia, Paquin said.
(Excerpt) Read more at fuelfix.com ...
I'll find some updated news and continue to post in this thread.
Two rail cars still burning at Gainford derailment site
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/rail+cars+still+burning+Gainford+derailment+site+video/9058265/story.html
OCTOBER 20, 2013
Two propane-filled CN train cars continued to burn Sunday night, nearly two days after an explosive derailment west of Edmonton.
Nine cars carrying liquefied propane and four cars carrying crude oil derailed early Saturday morning, causing a dramatic explosion in the tiny hamlet of Gainford, about 85 kilometres west of Edmonton. There were no injuries, but about 100 people were evacuated from their homes.
The fire spread to three cars, while a fourth was vented to prevent an explosion. By Sunday morning, one car burned itself out and crews had moved the intact crude-oil tank cars away from the derailed propane cars.
continued at link
Alberta train derailment renews fears over moving oil by rail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/alberta-derailment-prompts-cn-to-defend-safety-record/article14948464/
Last updated Sunday, Oct. 20 2013, 10:56 PM EDT
Nine blackened tankers are scattered around the site. Part of the rail is mangled, warped, and burned black.
A train carrying propane and crude that crashed in the hamlet of Gainford, Alta., early Saturday morning is once again raising questions about the safety of moving oil by rail in Canada, particularly in the wake of July’s fatal rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Que. No one was hurt in Gainford, but it was Canadian National Railway Co.’s third notable derailment in the past month involving hazardous materials, and it caused explosions and fire on both sides of a four-line highway.
...
Officials let the fires burn, and one burned itself out by Saturday night. Four derailed cars were carrying oil. CN said it got them a “safe distance” from the derailed cars that were on fire. The fire jumped the four-lane highway, charring the pavement on the way. At least one rural home was threatened, with the fire burning grass near the house. Fire consumed grass and brush on both sides of the Yellowhead Highway, a major transportation corridor, and drivers must detour around the site of the accident.
Things that make you think about going Hmmmmm.
time to outlaw trains in Canada (sarc).
pipeline advocates cause it?
I think what is going to happen is the DOT-111 railcars, which has had complaints for decades they are too thin walled and likely to rupture, are going to be upgraded.
It has been talked about for a long time. I think the Lac-Megantic fire pushed it over the edge to get a change. From that point on, each fire is going to make news until they are upgraded.
Al kaida?
Yes. Discriminatory against Cajuns...
I’m trying to think of the last time a pipeline crashed and burned. I’m drawing a blank.
Not crashed but we have burned a few.
All transportation of hydrocarbons has risks. But history has shown pipelines have fewer risks.
...using data from U.S. and Canada, they found that road transport was the most dangerous option in terms of the number of incidents, with almost 20 for every billion ton-miles. By contrast, there were roughly two incidents per billion ton-miles traveled annually by train. Pipelines had fewer than 0.6 incidents per billion ton-miles annually.
The rates of injuries requiring hospitalization are 30 times lower among oil pipeline workers compared to rail workers involved in crude shipments, according to U.S. data analyzed by the pair. Trucking oil is 37 times more likely to cause such injuries than pipelines, they found.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3080477/posts
Petroleum trains crashing and burning goes all the way back to the Rockefeller days. Don’t live near the tracks nor next to the water.
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