BNSF Freight Trains Collide In Washington, Ethanol Spills, Evacuation Ordered
(Pasco, Washington – November 7, 2011)
At least three dozen fire department hazmat crews and other emergency personnel responded early Monday morning about 3:40 A.M. to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway yard in Pasco, WA when two BNSF trains collided, resulting in the spill of about 2,000 gallons of ethanol, and the evacuation of 10 nearby residents.
A cut of 50 freight cars, obviously without air in their brake reservoirs, broke loose from the train they were on when a coupler broke, and rolled into a standing BNSF freight train, derailing two locomotives and more than a dozen cars.
Besides the ethanol, other derailed cars contained calcium chloride and corn syrup, but only the ethanol leaked from its tank car. Three crewmen on the standing train escaped injury.
