(The following report by Jesse Corona appeared at KVBC.com on September 24.)
LAS VEGAS — Last month, a runaway railway tanker raced through the heart of Las Vegas. It was loaded with 90 tons of liquid chlorine, an extremely dangerous and caustic chemical.
Metro police have released the 911 tapes from people that witnessed the tanker on its trip through the city. News 3’s Jesse Corona reports.
Operator: Do you need police, fire or medical?
Caller: I’m not sure, I have a runaway train car
You can hear it in their voices, even in a city where you can witness a lot of strange sights, the image of a railway tanker on the tracks by itself is hard to believe.
Caller: We just had a tanker come flying by on the railroad tracks. No locomotive at all, doing about 30-40 miles an hour heading north on the tracks.
Operator: What are you reporting northbound on the tracks?
Even 911 operators aren’t sure what to make of the calls.
Operator: What type of train was it you said?
Caller: It was a tanker car. What was in the tank I don’t know, but it went by us like a shot.
Union Pacific officials say somehow the tanker, loaded with 90 tons of liquid chlorine, somehow broke loose from the Arden Train Yard south of the city near state Route 160. From there, it was a straight shot downhill into Vegas
Operator: And it was by itself, it didn’t have an engine on it at all?
Caller: Nothing at all, it was all by itself and it was flying by our plant real fast.
And the calls kept coming in
Caller: This my second time to call in. I want to make sure you’re clear. This is one of those cars that carry acid or some kind of a chemical.
Operator: Some kind of a liquid or kind of thing?
Caller: Yes.
But it wasn’t until Union Pacific police called that people got an idea of what kind of disaster was narrowly avoided.
Operator: Okay, it’s a runaway rail car?
Union Pacific: One car. Runaway. Believe it’s loaded with chlorine. It was rolling pretty good probably 50, 60 miles and hour
Operator: Do you have sight of it?
Union Pacific: No, we lost sight of it but we are attempting to run it down right now.
The train was stopped by Union Pacific engineers who were able to board the tanker in North Las Vegas and use the handbrake.
Union Pacific says the incident is still under investigation by the Federal Railroad Administration but add they have put additional safety measures into place since the incident to make sure cars don’t get loose during switching.
Mayor Oscar Goodman said it was “outrageous” that tankers loaded with chemicals like chlorine are able to travel trough the city without his knowledge. His office says he’s still working on amending an ordinance that would prohibit the transport of dangerous chemicals through the city without notification.