(The DuQuoin Evening Call posted the following article by John H. Croessman on its website on May 15.)
DuQUOIN, Ill. — Vicky Morris says every now and then you still get a pungent whiff of vinyl chloride from last February’s derailment of a Canadian National Railroad chemical train that derailed in the community.
At Kirk Pestka’s Family Grocery, shoppers say they still see cleanup personnel come and go in chemical suits and masks, largely effecting the final cleanup of what is now a bad memory.
Workers say they are in the final stages of the cleanup, and steam cleaning the last of the large metal casks that contain “gray” water from the original chemical transfer probably does create occasional smells of the derailment.
The warming weather and the last of the moisture evaporating out of the ties and timbers is a reminder of the devastating derailment–but certainly isn’t harmful.
About a half dozen casks still sit along the siding. Only a handful of supervisors and workers come and go from the work trailers on the north side of the derailment site.
All of the damaged tank cars and debris are gone. The rails were all repaired along time ago.
Dirt work was completed to remove contaminated soil and regrade the site.
Air and monitoring devices are still in place and a handful of residents have asked that their homes be retested for any hint of vinyl chloride or the other chemicals that were discharged during the derailment.
We went back to the site on Tuesday and again this morning and the only real smells were from what seemed to be the creosote from new ties and timbers installed into the rail bed after the accident.
There was no smell of vinyl chloride or any of the other chemistry.
The last of the cleanup and removal of the last of the large water storage tasks is expected to take another 30 days.