GRAETTINGER, Iowa — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the March 10 derailment of a Union Pacific Railroad ethanol freight train near Graettinger in northwest Iowa that burst into flames and prompted nearby evacuations.

 

“The train carried two employees, and they were not injured,” said Palo Alto County Sheriff Lynn Schultes.

 

“The occupants of three area homes within one-half mile of the derailment site were asked to evacuate to maintain a safe zone.

 

“At 10:30 a.m., the residents displaced from their homes were allowed to return

as the fire had reduced in size and the immediate danger had passed,” he said the next morning. “Flames were still visible from the wreckage.”

 

Assisting at the scene were the Graettinger and Emmetsburg fire departments, Graettinger and Emmetsburg Ambulance service, Palo Alto County and Pocahontas County Emergency Management Agency, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Commercial

Motor Vehicle Enforcement and Palo Alto County road officials. Schultes said additional Union Pacific officials had arrived to monitor the incident and the site.

 

“Clean-up crews and equipment began to stage in Graettinger, until the site is deemed

safe, which could be several hours,” he said March 11.

 

Initial reports received by the NTSB’s Response Operations Center indicated there were no injuries or fatalities associated with the derailment of 27 rail tank cars near Jack Creek, Iowa, where an unknown amount of ethanol had spilled into the creek.

 

According to the NTSB, at 12:53 a.m., those reports further indicated the train

included three locomotives and 101 cars, 99 of which were reported to be carrying alcohol from an ethanol plant in Superior, Iowa.

 

The derailment occurred in the early morning hours after the train left Superior, Iowa, on its way to Texas, the Associated Press reported. A bridge over Jack Creek was destroyed in the incident, and at least four of the cars ended up in the creek.

 

Shortly before the derailment, the train went into emergency braking, which was

not induced by the engineer, the NTSB said.

 

Schultes said Union Pacific officials were able to detach about 74 loaded

tankers – each carrying about 25,000 gallons of ethanol – and removed them

from the derailment site. Nearly 27 tankers remained, of which 15 caught

fire and two continued to burn for more than 36 hours.

 

Schultes added local Iowa Department of Natural Resource (IDNR) officials

collected water samples from Jack Creek at the derailment site for testing.

According to the NTSB, part of its Go Team launched from Biloxi, Miss., where

board member Robert Sumwalt and NTSB support staff demobilized from a

March 7 bus and train crash in which a Texas tour bus was hit by a freight train

at a crossing, killing four people.

 

Other team members later deployed from NTSB’s Washington headquarters

to the Iowa derailment site. 

 

The Associated Press reported U.S. railroads have seen a huge surge in shipments of ethanol over the past two decades, transporting more than 333,000 carloads of the fuel in 2014, compared to fewer than 40,000 carloads in 2000, according to the Assoc. of

American Railroads (AAR).

 

The NTSB said initial reports indicated the rail tank cars involved in the March 10 accident are legacy DOT-111 rail tank cars.

 

“The NTSB has identified many vulnerabilities in the DOT-111 tank car design that create the risk of the release of hazardous materials or flammable liquids when those tank cars are involved in an accident,” a March 11 statement read.

 

“In light of these demonstrated vulnerabilities,” the NTSB said, by 2029, “Congress mandated the rail industry to end the use of DOT-111 rail tank cars for the transport of hazardous materials or flammable liquids and use tank rail cars built to the more robust DOT-117 standard, designed to reduce the vulnerabilities found in DOT-111 tank cars.”

 

During a March 11 media briefing, NTSB Member Robert Sumwalt said,

 

“We remain concerned about continued use of DOT-111 cars for transporting flammable materials, such as ethanol.”

 

According to AAR statistics for August 2016, there are a total of about 99,000 DOT-111 and CPC-1232 tank cars that require retrofitting or replacement by 2029, or an average of about 7,700 tank cars per year, with the rail tanker standards changing in 2015, the NTSB said. 

 

As of August 2016, about 1,400 existing tank cars have been retrofitted to the DOT-117 standard; about 10,839 new DOT-117 cars have been built, but fewer than half have been deployed in flammable liquids service.

 

“The NTSB’s position on implementing the use of DOT-117 rail tank cars has

been consistent – vulnerable DOT-111 tank cars must be replaced as quickly as

possible with the new DOT-117 design,” the NTSB statement read.

 

“The deadline for replacing less-robust tank cars extends more than 12 years,

from 2018 to 2025 for crude and ethanol, and to 2029 for all other Class 3 flammable

materials,” the statement said.

 

Sumwalt said the government phaseout deadline for use of DOT-111s to carry ethanol is 2023.

 

Updates on the NTSB’s investigation of this derailment and announcements about potential media briefings will be issued via Twitter from @NTSB_ Newsroom, the NTSB said.