(The Associated Press circulated the following article on February 17.)
CORSICANA, Texas — A roll of steel banding lost from a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 45 hit the last car on a Union Pacific freight train Thursday, derailing the car.
The tractor-trailer lost its load of steel spools after the driver said he veered to avoid a car about 6 a.m. Thursday while northbound on the interstate at Texas 31, Corsicana Fire Chief Donald McMullan said.
The spools fell from the freeway overpass onto the Union Pacific track that adjoined Texas 31, McMullan said. One spool hit and derailed an empty tanker car at the end of the freight train, said Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona. The tanker car contained polyglycol residue, he said.
“The tanker car was considered empty, but a tank like that always has residue, and it could be two gallons or 200 gallons,” he said in a story in Friday’s Corsicana Daily Sun.
The rig caught fire. The track, the interstate bridge and signage were damaged. Arbona said the track was bowed out at the point of impact. He said there was no timetable for resumption of traffic on the track.
The truck driver, Claude Edward Slaughter, 41, of Humble, said the driver of a car had been harassing him for about 10 miles and pulled in front of him moments before the accident.
“I guess he didn’t think I moved over for him when he got on the freeway,” Slaughter told the newspaper. “I tried to get over but I got into that guardrail and I couldn’t. I just put my head down.”
Investigating Trooper Jeff Taylor said his report would include Slaughter’ accounts, but he said Slaughter would be cited for traveling at an unsafe speed.
Slaughter suffered minor injuries and declined treatment. The accident forced authorities to divert early morning traffic from the interstate onto Business Route 45 through Corsicana, McMullan said.
The interstate was reopened to southbound traffic by midmorning Thursday, but northbound lanes where the disabled truck was located remained closed, McMullan said.