MARINETTE, Wisc. — The cause of the derailment of two Canadian National Railway tank cars last October in Marinette has been blamed on an air hose separation on one of the cars that derailed, the Eagle Herald reported.
The cause was detailed by the railroad in a report filed with the Federal Railroad Administration in late November.
“There was apparently an air hose separation or partial separation which caused the breaks to go into emergency application — which amounts to slamming the brakes on,” Jack Burke, the railroad’s assistant vice president of U.S. public affairs, told the EagleHerald Monday. “One of the dangers of putting a train into emergency application is a derailment. …It can also prevent a derailment from being a lot worse.”
The Canadian National freight train was traveling trough Marinette-Menominee at a speed of 25 mph the morning of Oct. 11, when the emergency breaking system automatically stopped the train, leaving the two tank cars derailed near the intersection of Sherman and State streets.
The hose separation occurred on one of the two tank cars that were 31st and 32nd cars on the 138 car train.
“They’ve got 100 plus cars behind them, so when they stopped, the momentum of the cars behind them in all likelihood lifted them off the track,” Burke said.
The two cars normally would have been carrying sodium hydroxide and sodium chlorate, two chemicals used in the production of paper, but they were empty at the time of derailment.
Both tank cars and a third car on the train were damaged. The railroad listed the total cost of the damages at $30,600 to equipment and $400 to track.
The derailment tied up traffic from Carney Boulevard in Marinette to 16th Street in Menominee until the early afternoon on Oct. 11.