Posted on 05/12/2002 8:16:53 PM PDT by Dallas
COLFAX, Calif. --
A train carrying non-hazardous chemicals derailed in northeast California and was partially suspended over a steep cliff Sunday night.
One of the train's 73 cars hung over a drop known as China Wall in a rural area away from people and homes, said Placer County Sheriff's Captain Rick Armstrong. No one was injured and authorities said the rail car was not in danger of falling.
One of the six cars that derailed contained non-hazardous byproducts and two were carrying an ammonia sulfate powder that is not dangerous by itself, Armstrong said.
The Burlington Northern & Santa Fe train was heading east when it derailed at about 2:30 p.m., said Michael Furtney, a spokesman for Union Pacific, which owns the tracks.
The California Forestry Department dispatched hazardous materials crews to the site, northeast of Sacramento.
"We've got people out there on the scene trying to secure all the cars and make sure none of them are leaking," Furtney said. "Given the location, it's fairly tricky."
Passengers on Amtrak's California Zephyr, bound for Emeryville from Chicago, were taken away on buses to continue their journey, said Tom Gambrel of Amtrak.
The voicemail box for a Burlington Northern spokeswoman was full Sunday.
The cause of the derailment was under investigation.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
This is a common misnomer, with regard to r/r disfunction. I have worked in the railroad industry for 23 years, and i would love more than anything else to blame the feds for this....
But...
The true reason is that the cost of replacing and repairing our current infrastructure is so high, that our rail system limps along on a wing and a prayer. This is economics, pure and simple.
Most r/r's are so close to border line broke, that they can't in most cases afford to keep their infrastructures in pristine condition.
The lawsuits from car hitting train accidents all have payoffs to the lawbreakers that are usually always staggeringly in the millions of dollars.
The solution? For the life of me, I can't think of one, that is why the "great" European rail systems are completely socialized, having the governments paying for everything...not a workable solution here in this country.
By the way...I am not a Federal employee!!
(OK, I've now banished myself to the corner. :-)
Trucking companies always brag on the back of their trucks how much in taxes they pay. The truth is that that amount doesn't even begin to pay for the damage they do to the roads.
I once rode in a dome car of the (Western Pacific's) California Zephyr through the beautiful Feather River Canyon BEFORE the Oroville dam was built....My dad worked for Western Pacific RR.
What are the points on a track?
If I'd have read the story before I posted it......I wouldn't have posted it under breaking news.
It would take some effort to take the bolts out of one,not the kind of thing to just fall off.;o)
"Well, they gave him his orders at Monroe, Virginia saying 'Steve, you're way behind time',
This is not thirty-eight, but ol' ninety seven, you must get her, in Spencer, on time".....
... yeah right... and would they tell us immediately if they WERE hazardous.... would the authorities do ANYTHING right now to alarm the public... LOTSA train accidents... and LOTSA lights on a power substations all over the country, 24-7...
If folks want to believe at least a few of these are genuine accidents... it is their choice... but after a while... we have to consider, this makes for a LOT of derailments, compared to a similar frame of time in most years... I would say the arabs are hoping to get lucky and derail a train with SERIOUS chemicals on board, near a residential area... and soon.
It also appears that they have been relatively unsuccessful to date. I suspect they are trying to learn new job skills... to attack our infrastructures more effectively. Cheifly they would be analyzing our "response teams" and methods...
It's time to open the refugee camps... and prepare muslim sympathisers for deportation to the islamic hell-hole of their choice. America is too big, for the puny muslimaniac religion... it is time for them to go back to eating the sand, and sleeping with the scorpions they apparently inherited their character from.
Cloud seeding from cropdusters? ;-)
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