(Source: National Transportation Safety Board press release, February 10, 2012)
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will hold a Board meeting to determine the probable cause on the June 19, 2009, train derailment in Cherry Valley, Illinois, and to consider proposed safety recommendations to prevent future accidents.
This accident involved a 114-car freight train traveling east that derailed at a highway/rail grade crossing. All of the derailed cars were tank cars carrying ethanol, a flammable liquid. Thirteen of the derailed tank cars were breached or lost product and caught fire. At time of the derailment, several motor vehicles were stopped on either side of the grade crossing waiting for the train to pass.
As a result of the fire that erupted after the derailment, a passenger in one of the stopped vehicles was fatally injured, two passengers in the same vehicle received serious injuries, and five occupants of the other vehicles waiting at the highway-rail crossing were injured.
Event: Board Meeting
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 9:30 am (EST)
Location: NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC
Participants: NTSB Board Members