(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Jonathan D. Salant on March 9.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal safety investigators concluded Tuesday that a 2002 train derailment near Minot, N.D., that killed one person and injured more than 300 was caused by inadequate track maintenance and inspections.
Five cars on the 112-car Canadian Pacific Railway train broke open after the derailment, spewing 146,700 gallons of anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer. Though carried as a liquid, the chemical quickly turned into a gas after coming in contact with air.
A vapor cloud quickly encompassed the area. One person was killed and 333 were injured, 11 seriously. Residents of the area in north-central North Dakota were told to stay indoors.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the train derailed after hitting a damaged joint that connected a recently replaced section of track to the welded rail. Board investigators said railway inspectors never noticed the crack in the joint.
Pat Pender, Canadian Pacific’s vice president for product design and customer service, disagreed with the safety board’s findings.
“There is no systemic problem with inspection practices on the railway,” Pender said. “The area of track on which the train derailed at Minot was inspected by fully qualified and trained track crews two days prior to the derailment. Simply put, CPR’s track in North Dakota is safe.”
Board members also expressed concern that the tank cars ruptured so easily. Before 1989 tank cars were built using steel not as strong as the steel now used, and the five cars were constructed in 1976. The older cars pose “an unquantified but real risk to the public,” the board said.
The board called on the FRA to study the older cars and rank them as to the likelihood of their coming apart in a crash, and to develop standards for new tank car construction.