(The following article by Tim Richardson was posted on the Topeka Capital Journal website on March 30.)
SILVER LAKE, Kan. — Jeff Shenk didn’t have to wait for the dust to settle.
He gazed down a Union Pacific railroad track late Sunday near his northwest Shawnee County home, watching as the train’s cars spilled into rain-swollen Soldier Creek. Coal-blackened dust billowed from below, leaving an assortment of twisted metal and a 280-foot bridge in shambles.
“It was kind of a shock to see them disappearing into the creek,” said Shenk, who lives about a quarter-mile away from the site. “They would slowly just turn onto their sides and disappear.”
One by one, 38 rail cars left the tracks near N.W. 70th and Valencia Road and dropped into the creek. Two other cars also derailed — one on each side of the collapsed bridge — leaving about 5,500 tons of coal and metal below.
None of the three locomotives on the train derailed, and the engineer and conductor weren’t injured.
Authorities were called at 6:28 p.m. Sunday to the crash site. Crews and heavy equipment began arriving at about 10 p.m. Sunday from the Kansas City area, Des Moines, Iowa, Grand Island, Neb., and elsewhere to begin the cleanup process.
A detector car — a “moving ultrasound,” Davis said — that looks inside the rail for detects went over the track on Feb. 20. Davis said the cause of the derailment is under investigation.
About 150 workers, including Union Pacific employees, private contractors and fire department officials, worked Monday to clear the wreckage and spilled coal.
Davis said workers will construct a makeshift bridge over Soldier Creek to replace the fallen span. The temporary bridge will be about 350 feet long and 30 feet deep, and will include eight pipes that are 7 feet in diameter to allow the creek to flow.
Train traffic should be able to resume crossing the creek by late Wednesday, Davis said. He said an estimated dollar loss hadn’t been determined Monday, and Union Pacific officials aren’t sure when work might begin on a permanent bridge.
‘Running like ants’
The spectacle attracted a handful of onlookers before Shawnee County sheriff’s deputies manned road blocks leading to the crash site.
Workers lifted the mangled metal from the creek, piece by piece. A section of the train that normally would extend about 2,000 feet was compacted beneath an area where the bridge once spanned.
“It’s just like crushing a beer can,” said Silver Lake Fire Chief Joe Hawkins while on his 24th hour without sleep.
Hawkins requested assistance from the Topeka Fire Department’s Technical Rescue team in case of any incident that required a rescue amid the maze of bulldozers and wreckage. Volunteers from the American Red Cross and Salvation Army provided relief for workers.
“A lot of hot chocolate — hot chocolate was very popular,” said Salvation Army volunteer Marcia Riggs, who was preparing for a shift change after 11 hours on the job.
Some workers welded the twisted debris, some operated heavy machinery and others scurried down the coal-covered slope to Soldier Creek to help clear the area.
“They are all running like ants,” Hawkins said. Several volunteer members of his department worked until 4 a.m. Monday before going home to prepare for work.
Shenk said it didn’t take long to spot the progress made by the crew, which worked around the clock.
“These guys are unreal,” he said after speaking with a railroad employee. “This guy told me ‘you wouldn’t be able to recognize it in the morning.’ He was right.”
Environmental effect
The state has requested the coal be removed from Soldier Creek, but those efforts were hampered by rainfall this weekend. Soldier Creek peaked at 17 feet at 6 p.m. Sunday — up from its normal stage of about 8 feet.
“At this point, that’s a difficult removal process,” said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The agency has asked that Soldier be cleared of the spilled coal.
Watson said coal near the spill site could affect aquatic life as sediments reach the creek bottom. Whether the spill has affected fish won’t be determined until more evaluation is done when water levels fall. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, of Manhattan, also was on the scene Monday.
Union Pacific is contracting with an Olathe-based company to clear the coal from the creek. The process entails dust being removed from the water surface, as well as the removal of larger pieces of coal.
The creek also might be dammed to allow for easier cleanup from the creek bed. Watson said treatment systems would filter coal dust downstream.
Davis said the spilled coal would be sold to a salvage company, which then will sell it to smaller utilities companies and steel mills able to use dirty coal.