Freight Train Derailment Dumps Coal into DC River

[Meg 368]

A freight train derails while on a bridge over a river in DC.  Several railroad cars full of coal are now in the water.

http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=65068&provider=gnews

The news broadcasts are reporting that all of the train's crew are safe and accounted for.

[topcliff 1]

It would appear that America is having a bad week. Fires, car crashes (personal), and now oil and coal spills in major waterways. I hope it can be cleaned up easily.

[Duke87 1,070]

the track and signaling in that area, and through nearby Benning Yard, have recently been upgraded.quote>

Sounds like someone undermined the quality of the tracks when upgrading them. New stuff installed poorly or existing stuff carelessly knocked a bit out of line, perhaps.

Though, they also said the structural integrity of the bridge was questionable. So it may just be that the train went over a weak beam, causing it to deform more than the original design allowed, which then pulled the track out of line with it, and thus caused the derailment since the train couldn't handle the misalignment.

Those would be the two scenarios I'd investigate first.

[Silur 3,297]

Life is life - no more .....

[Frankie_Grove 32]

Railroad bridges are designed to hold nearly 3x the weight of a fully loaded train.  From the looks of it, the rails themselves were either misaligned or kinked. (Most likely at the lift section of the drawbridge). I can only guess that the 'structural integrity' of the bridge is only 'questionable' due to the derailment and the prolonged weight imbalance that now exists.

CSXT can probably have the mess cleaned up and bridge fixed within the next several hours. (Else they loose millions due to delayed trains). Or at least they better, since the shortest detour is a near 250 mile run-around via a different carrier.

EDIT: How has the temperature been in the DC area? If it has just recently gone from hot weather to cold, kinks in the rails could be the culprit. I've witnessed several derailments due to kinks, and its not all that uncommon.

[Meg 368]

On TV, they interviewed a witness who claimed to hear a "boom", see a cloud of black dust, then the cars, along with the railroad track itself, go up in the air and over the edge into the water.

They are trying to figure out how to keep the dangling cars from going into the river and what to do with the ones that are already down there.  Since they don't know what caused this, they don't know how stable the bridge it.

This particular section of track is used only for freight, not Amtrak or commuter traffic.  They have been talking for 6 years about re-routing the freight train traffic that goes through DC.   I'm not sure if this is the same track that goes underneath Capitol Hill.   The building that is visible in the background in the second picture above is RFK stadium which is about 22 blocks directly east of the Capitol.

[The_Hutt 11]

CNN is reporting that another train rear ended it, but the cause is still unverified.

[Frankie_Grove 32]

Originally posted by: The_Hutt CNN is reporting that another train rear ended it, but the cause is still unverified.quote>

Now that I have read most of the news reports, it seems that the train was indeed parked when this occurred. And since the eyewitness claims that the cars went upward, it is possible it was rear-ended...although I find it difficult to believe coming from a Class I railroad with Centralized Traffic Control..

[Silur 3,297]

Lucky America with these hot news !!!!

[Jazzmaster 716]

For me, being a "rail geek" myself, this is kind of depressing (I actually have the white hoppers pictured in there on my model railroad lol).  I noticed this on TV earlier tonight when I was out eating with my family.  Actually, this could've been a lot worse...I'm scared to think what it'd be like if it was a passenger train, although since it's one line from what I can tell, freight and passenger probably don't share that line...

it's also great it wasn't high up on one of those "mega trestles" that span large gorges and such.  If that was the case, the weight of those few cars could've pulled the whole train down with them, and the crew wouldn't be so lucky.  It'd be pretty bizarre if a train actually rear ended it, but since it's still an early incident, I'll just wait until more info pops up. 

-Yoshiisland

[SC4BOY 20]

Shame it wasn't in Newcastle..

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

The worst part is what type of coal it was. If Im correct ,that coal was from the Appalachains. It one of oldest mountain ranges in the world, but has some of the most youngest coal deposit(example Lignite). The problem is ,younger coal is more pollutaint than older coa,l espically in water.


               So. if anything was living in those waters.............................. 

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Fresh Prince of Wmbg

The worst part is what type of coal it was. If Im correct ,that coal was from the Appalachains. It one of oldest mountain ranges in the world, but has some of the most youngest coal deposit(example Lignite). The problem is ,younger coal is more pollutaint than older coa,l espically in water.

               So. if anything was living in those waters.............................. 

quote>

I haven't heard what kind of coal it is.  It can't be good, whatever type it is.

We're talking about the Anacostia River here.  I doubt there was much living there to begin with; it has a history of being the ickiest river in the area.  There has been an effort in recent years to clean it up.  Obviously, this isn't going to help.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek I'm not sure if this is the same track that goes underneath Capitol Hill. quote>

There's a train track that goes under capitol hill? Since when? Google maps says nothing of this....

Though, there is a highway (I-395) that goes under capitol hill. Perhaps you're thinking of that?

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Originally posted by: SkiGeek I'm not sure if this is the same track that goes underneath Capitol Hill. quote>

There's a train track that goes under capitol hill? Since when? Google maps says nothing of this....

Though, there is a highway (I-395) that goes under capitol hill. Perhaps you're thinking of that?quote>

There is a train track that has been there for forever.  Well, at least since I was a kid anyway.  There was talk of closing it off.  Don't know if they did that or not.  I'll see what I can find out.

Meanwhile, on the news tonight (local NBC station), they said that this train, 90 cars long, full of coal, left the rail yard "on its own".  The brakes weren't set correctly and the train just rolled into a closed bridge that couldn't handle it structurally.

They continued with a variety of other idiotic statements, like the situation is being assessed to see "if there is any environmental damage" and "if there was negligence involved".   Sounds like the "duh!" category to me.

Two rail yard employees have been invited to stay home pending the outcome of the investigation.

My initial reaction is this is probably the stupidest thing I've heard of in a long while.  That really isn't true, though.  No one was killed in this screw-up, which is more than can be said for a lot of things that are going on.

/rant

[DOXXP29 5]

This particular line exits a tunnel at Virginia and New Jersey Avenues about 5 blocks south and one block east of the Capitol. It continues as an elevated line across the Potomac River roughly following Virginia and Maryland Avenues SW. The line under Capitol Hill handles trains from Union Station and is passenger only, I believe. The two lines do merge at a point south and west of the Capitol.

[siso43 13]

so is the live

[screamingman12 30]

Yeah, the track that goes under the Capitol is the passenger feed to Union Station. However CSX trains were detoured through this before when the Anacostia bridge collapsed.

[bbfan02 23]

The United States doesnt do enough to keep the environment clean and healthy for the animals and plants.

Example: Key West dumps all of its garbage into the ocean and the Gulf of Mexico because it is 130 miles from the mainland. Isn't that just lazy?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: bbfan02 The United States doesnt do enough to keep the environment clean and healthy for the animals and plants.

Example: Key West dumps all of its garbage into the ocean and the Gulf of Mexico because it is 130 miles from the mainland. Isn't that just lazy?quote>

No, just expedient and cheap.  They should have a proper incinerator and recovery plant.

[bbfan02 23]

N_O_Body, you cant even swim into the water. And worse than that, they dont even have signs to say that!

They just say: "Swim at your own risk".

[saltandsauce 0]

maybe someone wanted that bridge closed for an unkown reason?

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: SkiGeekThey continued with a variety of other idiotic statements, like the situation is being assessed to see "if there is any environmental damage" and "if there was negligence involved".   Sounds like the "duh!" category to me.quote>

Well, that's bureaucracy for you. Needs an investigation to determine the obvious.

---------------

Also, I was under the impression that Union Station could only be approached from the north, like Grand Central in New York.

I went back and looked and did see the south exit of this tunnel in the aerial photos, but if this track exists and has for quite a while, why the hell isn't it on any maps? I smell a conspiracy.

[hamsterTK 93]

I thought it was freight, because one was rumbling along when I was walking down the street when I was there

I have only been to DC once, but since it was my only time to visit a eastern city I spent a lot of time looking around for train stuff

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Well, that's bureaucracy for you. Needs an investigation to determine the obvious. quote>

Too true. 

Also, I was under the impression that Union Station could only be approached from the north, like Grand Central in New York. quote>

Union Station can indeed be approached from the south.  I have taken a southbound train out of Union Station myself.  Virginia commuter rail and Amtrak trains take this route all the time.  The Maryland commuter train uses Union Station as it's southern end point.

I went back and looked and did see the south exit of this tunnel in the aerial photos, but if this track exists and has for quite a while, why the hell isn't it on any maps? I smell a conspiracy.quote>

It's on the printed maps around here, following the path DOXX mentioned.  Maybe they've just kept it off of the online maps.

[DOXXP29 5]

Apparently, there will be some freight moving along the line under the Capitol since there are now NO Anacostia River crossings! There were two. One was closed earlier after an inspection found the bridge to be structurally unsound. The bridge in Ski's article was the only one being used and now that one is going to be closed for some time according to the Washington Post.

What is also interesting is that several years ago, some of the terrorist-crazed lawmakers and authorities wanted to stop ALL freight from moving anywhere near the Capitol, White House, etc. The railroad and commercial interests raised so much hell that the plans were largely scrapped. There were articles in the papers showing the circuitous paths that were proposed and it would add many miles and considerable time to freight trips as the tracks on the planned routes were operating at full capacity already.

[Meg 368]

It tells ya something about the condition of the river when they are more concerned about the polluted sediment that will be stirred up than they are about the effect of the coal.  

http://www.readexpress.com/read_freeride/2007/11/cleanup_poised_to_start_at_site_of_derai.php