MINOT, N.D. — Canadian Pacific Railway might be forced to move its rail-car storage and switching operations outside the city limits of Minot, though railway officials said it would not increase safety, a wire service reported.
The request by the City Council comes in the wake of a Jan. 18 derailment on the western edge of Minot. Cars carrying anhydrous ammonia farm fertilizer went off the tracks, sending a cloud of gas over the city that killed one man and injured hundreds more.
City Council member Neil Leigh said Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway, which controls the rail-car storage and switching site in northeastern Minot, will require the Canadian Pacific Railway to move its operations a few kilometres east of the city.
Canadian Pacific Railway spokesman John Bergene said switching and storing cars at the current site is the best way to limit the amount of time the cars go through downtown Minot. The switching operation in Minot is a small-scale operation, limited to separating cars for delivery to local customers, he said.
“In order to accomplish what they (City Council) wanted to do, we were going to have to increase the number of times that cars would run through the middle of downtown Minot,” Bergene said.
City Councilman Chuck Barney said it should be up to the city to determine if moving the switching and storing operations would increase safety.
Leigh said city officials do not want cars filled with toxic chemicals sitting within the city limits. Bergene said a U.S. law requires railways to move cars containing hazardous materials within 48 hours.
The city’s Railroad Hazardous Materials Study Committee, which was formed after the derailment, plans to discuss the matter Thursday. Bergene said railway officials plan to attend.
The railway has presented a plan to the North Dakota state Health Department for cleaning up the remaining anhydrous ammonia at the derailment site. Scott Radig, an environmental engineer with the department, said it is being studied.
The railway is seeking city permission to pump 57 million litres of contaminated groundwater into the sewer system.
Public Works Director Alan Walter said the amount, “in the overall picture…is not that much water in the lagoons.”
Minot’s sewage lagoons receive about 15 million litres of water each day, he said.
About 70,000 tonnes of contaminated dirt were removed from the crash site but anhydrous ammonia remains in soil underneath the tracks. Bergene said the railway will dig out dirt as close to the tracks as possible and install more groundwater-monitoring wells.