“Chlorine, it is one of the most potent air toxics,” said Nichols, a vocal member of Citizens Acting for Rail Safety Twin Cities. “In some cases, firefighters have been killed, and many others have been sickened. … It’s a pretty nasty material if it gets out of the bottle.”
Nichols contacted St. Paul Emergency Management, eventually corresponding with director Rick Larkin. They said they had no information about a derailment over or near the river. Nichols called Ramsey County Emergency Management and its director, Judd Freed. They hadn’t heard either. Days of inquiry led nowhere, though Larkin promised in a July 12 email to Nichols that he would make inquiries of his own.
The results of his calls were eye-opening. On a bridge over the Mississippi as the train passes downtown, the wheels of several rail cars had indeed left the track three weeks earlier. And another car with the same train was carrying chlorine when it also became partially derailed later that morning. Nichols even obtained pictures of obvious damage to the Robert Street lift bridge’s railroad planks.
“That revelation — finding out from a concerned citizens group — is certainly not the way I would want to be informed of that situation,” said Larkin, who also serves as president of the Association of Minnesota Emergency Managers. “I sure would want to hear it from the railroads before anybody else.”
Larkin said his working relationship with the railroads, which has not always been open and trusting, had improved over the past 18 months, and they sent representatives to a multi-agency emergency preparedness workshop in April. He said not being notified of the June 22 incident was a frustration and disappointment.
“So this time everything worked out OK. There was no product release, no train cars in the river,” he said. “But what are we doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again? None of us want a rail car on its side, whether we’re representatives of the community or CEO of the railroad.”
TWO-PART DERAILMENT
A spokeswoman for Union Pacific confirmed details of the two-part incident to the Pioneer Press, including the presence of chlorine.
At 2:45 a.m. on June 22, a Thursday, three empty rail cars partially derailed near Union Pacific’s South St. Paul rail yard. The derailed cars were part of a 166-car train traveling from Altoona, Wis., to St. Paul. A single rail car’s wheels had gone off the tracks over the river on the Robert Street railroad bridge, causing a logjam down the line. The cars came to a stop by Barge Channel Road.
“All rail cars remained upright but were considered derailed because at least one wheel from each rail car left the track,” said Calli Hite, an Omaha, Neb.-based communications director for Union Pacific. “None of the derailed cars were related to chlorine.”
The site was cleared in six hours. But more problems followed, and a train car carrying chlorine indeed became involved. “While in the process of re-railing the three empty derailed cars, wheels from two more rail cars came off the track while the train was being cleared from Barge Channel Road,” Hite said. “One of these two cars was a chlorine car. There was no product release.”
Union Pacific attributed the first derailment to “a customer loading error” that caused the wheels to lift and declined to describe how much chlorine was aboard in the second derailment. There were no injuries reported.
As a result of the incidents, the Robert Street railroad bridge was out of service for inspection and repair for roughly 24 hours. During that time, Union Pacific, which owns the 10-mile-per-hour bridge, replaced 68 railroad ties and determined the bridge to be structurally sound, according to the company.
“The multi-part incident is an unusual circumstance,” Hite said. “We are conducting a thorough incident review to assess processes and ensure appropriate entities are alerted in these situations.” She said a complete description of the incidents, including the second derailment, will be included in a standard report to the Federal Railroad Administration.
RAMSEY COUNTY NOT NOTIFIED
Larkin, St. Paul’s emergency management director, said that from his discussions with Upper River Services, which operates barge towing and fleet cleaning services, there was no disruption to barge or river traffic. “It didn’t generate a public safety response,” he said. “We are following up more administratively.”
Those findings leave Nichols unsatisfied. Why weren’t St. Paul or Ramsey County officials notified of the emergency? Why wasn’t the Coast Guard alerted? And if the initial incident began with wheels lifting off the tracks on the Robert Street lift bridge, why did the train continue another mile to Barge Channel Road? And how much chlorine was on board?
“They don’t ship small amounts,” said Nichols, who noted a single train car typically carries 90 tons of chlorine to manufacturing plants, where it is used as a major ingredient in bleach and swimming pool cleaners, among other applications. “They either ship them empty or ship them full.”
Despite denials from Union Pacific, Nichols believes the conductor continued rolling over the river with a train car partially off its own track because his radio was down and he was unable to receive communications from the bridge operator, who is also a Union Pacific employee.
Union Pacific says otherwise. “No, communication was not severed at any time,” Hite said.
A CALL TO DAKOTA COUNTY
Once the train came to a stop, only certain authorities were roped in. Hite said that because the front of the train was in Dakota County, the Dakota County Communications Center was notified of the three-car derailment instead of St. Paul or Ramsey County.
“After further inspection, UP determined the derailed portion of the train was in Ramsey County,” she said.
A Dakota Communications Center manager confirmed that his department received a call at 3:24 a.m. on June 22 indicating a partial derailment at 1450 Concord St., but that the caller stated no police or fire services were needed. The given address is near the St. Paul Police Impound Lot.
Meanwhile, the second incident involving the chlorine car was not part of the initial derailment, so it was not included in the initial incident report to Dakota County, according to the Union Pacific spokeswoman. “The onsite team was focused on safely opening the public roadway and did not report the two-car, incidental derailment until after Dakota County authorities were notified,” Hite said.
Citing security and safety precautions, the company has declined to identify how many of the 166 train cars were carrying chlorine and how much chlorine they contained. Hite said all the “commodities and rail cars were appropriately labeled.”
A serious river accident might require contacting the National Response Center, an organization operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, but Union Pacific chose not to. Hite noted the train did not come to a stop on the bridge itself, and no chemicals were spilled in the waterway. “Because the incident’s severity level did not merit notification, UP did not alert the National Response Center,” she said.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Sean Haley of Sector Upper Mississippi River in St. Louis said even a chemical leak would not necessarily warrant notification if it were small enough. “Each chemical has its reportable quantities, and for chlorine, specifically, it’s 10 pounds,” Haley said. “If they spill more than 10 pounds, then the Coast Guard has to be notified.”
Larkin said he was nevertheless disappointed to not have received a courtesy call, given that he hosted an April 18 and 19 emergency preparedness workshop where senior officials from 38 local, regional, state, federal and railroad authorities gathered to discuss safety concerns.
“Absolutely I’m concerned about it,” he said. “I operate in the ‘bad day’ business. If everything goes well, generally folks don’t think about us. Our job is to plan for contingencies, if and when things don’t go well.”
Nichols, of Maplewood, became active in rail safety matters in 2015 after a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad derailed near his mother’s home in Fridley. He’s slept uneasily ever since, and the St. Paul incident doesn’t inspire his confidence. “It’s clear that if this happened once, it could happen again,” Nichols said. “And the outcome may be far, far worse.”
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