Crude oil train derails in Fayette County, WV

Around 1:20 p.m. Monday, a CSX Train carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken formation derailed in the Mount Carbon area of Fayette County, sending oil tankers off the tracks, with some reaching the Kanawha River.

The train, consisting of two locomotives and 109 rail cars, was en route to Yorktown, Va. As of Monday evening, it was unknown how much oil spilled from the train.

According to a statement on its website, CSX is “working with first responders to address the fire, to determine how many rail cars derailed, and to deploy environmental protective measures and monitoring on land, air and in the nearby Kanawha River. The company also is working with public officials and investigative agencies to address their needs.”

Steve Keenan/For The Register-Herald A fireball rises over the site near Adena Village at Mt. Carbon, Fayette County, Monday after tanker cars carrying crude oil derailed. At least one of the cars fell into the Kanawha River and is believed to be leaking into the water.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for Kanawha and Fayette counties because of the event.

Some of that oil caught fire, sending fireballs and plumes of thick, black smoke into the air.

A Fayette dispatcher said residents in Lower Boomer and Adena Village were evacuated. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said in a press release that the Montgomery and Cedar Grove water treatment plants were shut down, and customers served by those systems are urged to conserve water.

Messina said the state fire marshal and state Department of Environmental Protection were notified. Scanner traffic indicated traffic on state Route 61 was shut down at the Montgomery Bridge.West Virginia American Water spokeswoman Laura Jordan said the company’s Montgomery treatment plant serves around 2,000 customers in Montgomery and Handley.

CSX has booked rooms at the Holiday Lodge Hotal and Comfort Inn New River, both in Oak Hill, for those displaced by the derailment. Residents can call the hotel to reserve a room free of charge.CSX also set up a hotline for affected residents to call. That number is 877-835-5279.

Apparently this is the same train line that derailed last year in April in VA, again spilling gallons of crude oil. Either this train goes way too fast or they do not train their engineers properly. Either way, it's obvious something needs to be changed before VA or WV is just a hole on a map thanks to CSX. Regardless, I feel for these residents who are now without their homes for awhile, and for the one resident whose home caught fire due to the derailment and was forced to literally run out of his home in the snow in bare feet! His home is a loss because firefighters were unable to reach his home because of the flames from the train.

Holy cow, I used to work for the Alaskan railroad, it was an awesome expierience. You say this train has derailed before? I don't think you can make engineer without proper training, and the conductor and brakeman should be right there with you...I wonder if the rails are messed up somewhere? Or if some pranksters set something on the rails? I suppose the engineer could have been speeding or poorly trained, but they drill those freakin safety rules into your skull so I am not so sure.

Have they "ruled out" sabotage or terrorism yet?



Hope nobody is injured or killed.

This is why we need to build the pipeline.

originally posted by: xuenchen
Have they "ruled out" sabotage or terrorism yet?

Hope nobody is injured or killed.

The crew should be ok, maybe out of a high paying job, but ok.......as far as the people in the area I hope they are ok too. Sounds like it happened in a somewhat remote area?..........barefoot man has good survival instincts apparently........

We can has pipeline now?


Sorry, not to diminish the situation but this is ATS after all.

originally posted by: xuenchen
Have they "ruled out" sabotage or terrorism yet?

Hope nobody is injured or killed.

A homeowner whose house caught fire was treated for smoke inhalation. His house is surely a loss as firefighters have had trouble reaching his home to put out the flames due to the train flames.




Homeowner

The number of carloads of crude shipped on major US railroads skyrocketed from fewer than 10,000 in 2008 to 415,000 last year, according to the Association of American Railroads and the Federal Railroad Administration.

The largest concentration of tank cars is coming out of the Bakken oil patch of North Dakota and Montana, where there is limited capacity to move crude using pipelines, historically the industry’s transportation mode of choice.

Much of the oil is being hauled by a fleet of tens of thousands of flawed tank cars that are prone to rupture during derailments, according to The Associated Press. That can set off massive fires when the cars that carry more than 30,000 gallons of oil each break open and explode.

Exacerbating the potential hazard is the high volatility of oil from the Bakken — a sweet, light crude that regulators say contains higher concentrations of explosive gases than conventional heavy crudes.

I gather we're talking a different kind of pipeline? Or are we talking more pipelines?

a reply to: Anyafaj
Yeah. More.
Keystone probably in particular.

False flag. Yadayada

I heard about this earlier. It looks really bad. I really think they may have been going too fast for the weather conditions. There was easily 4 to 6 inches of snow earlier here in West Virginia in some places.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Anyafaj
Yeah. More.
Keystone probably in particular.

False flag. Yadayada

Thought so. Just wanted to clarify. Thanks Phage.

2nd

originally posted by: Skid Mark
I heard about this earlier. It looks really bad. I really think they may have been going too fast for the weather conditions. There was easily 4 to 6 inches of snow earlier here in West Virginia in some places.

Not to mention, I hear some areas it's been sleeting as well, depending on the area. So if you have the inches of snow, and you add sleet to it, then you factor speed in, makes for some interesting conditions for trains. I've been on Amtrak in the winter and let me tell you, when they go around corners, it's enough to cause a heart attack!

originally posted by: Skid Mark
I heard about this earlier. It looks really bad. I really think they may have been going too fast for the weather conditions. There was easily 4 to 6 inches of snow earlier here in West Virginia in some places.

If so they ignored the track bulletin report which every crew should be required to review before any shift.......fired!

a reply to: Anyafaj

That's right. Not to mention the wind has been pretty strong off and on all day (at least where I am) and you can imagine how the snow is drifting. I wonder if they'll get fined for this.

a reply to: GoShredAK

They should be fired. They should also have to buy that guy another house. Also cleanup for the river. They have no water now because the treatment plant got shut down. They didn't want contaminated water in the system.