(The following article by Brian Chasnoff and Anton Caputo was posted on the San Antonio Express-News website on October 18.)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Two of the San Antonio area’s highest elected officials are calling for an investigation into a train derailment that severely damaged two homes just north of downtown Tuesday.
In joint letters to the National Transportation Safety Board and the president of Union Pacific Railroad, Mayor Phil Hardberger and County Judge Nelson Wolff depict the derailment as a narrowly averted catastrophe.
Meanwhile, concerned residents, activists and government officials renewed calls to improve railways in this city and someday divert commercial trains from urban areas.
“We were lucky this time,” wrote Hardberger and Wolff to Union Pacific President Jim Young. “We may not be so fortunate next time.”
The 106-car Union Pacific train was traveling south from Hearne to Laredo when 17 boxcars carrying scrap paper, steel coils and potash — all nonhazardous materials — jumped the tracks around 11 a.m. near Aganier Avenue and Hickman Street.
One boxcar slammed into a house while its resident was standing in the front yard. Another slid into the bedroom of an unoccupied home. A third missed a high-voltage power line by inches.
The derailment stretched for three blocks and damaged 680 feet of track.
No one was injured, officials said.
The cause of the wreck had not been determined Tuesday.
Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona said a recorder showed the train was traveling at 21 mph on a section of the track with a speed limit of 25 mph.
Railroad employees visually inspect that section of track every other day, Arbona said. He added that every two months the company uses ultrasound technology to check for rail defects. He said he didn’t know if the company would release maintenance schedule records.
As workers began a cleanup expected to conclude today, the derailment spurred a passionate response among residents and government officials.
Hardberger, who surveyed the damage with Wolff soon after the wreck, called the derailment intolerable. Wolff said it was disturbing.
“There was human error here,” Hardberger speculated. “Otherwise it wouldn’t have happened.”
In their letter to Union Pacific’s Young, Hardberger and Wolff requested an immediate update on UP’s plans on “reducing train speeds as they travel through populated areas and maintaining safe track conditions.”
Residents and witnesses echoed these concerns.
“They abuse the tracks,” said Leonard Moyer, 51, who was working on his car outside a home he’d been renting on Weymouth when a boxcar smashed into it. “So many of them come by all the time.”
“I seen (Tuesday’s train) come off the tracks,” Moyer added, “and like slow-motion I just started running.”
Dave Arevalo, a local activist who has scrutinized Union Pacific for years, said the company either should improve the rails or reroute them from urban areas — demands echoed by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, who represents the district in which the derailment occurred.
Rerouting many of the 70 or so trains that rumble through San Antonio daily would cost $1 billion to $2 billion and take more than a decade, according to state and local officials, who have talked about the matter since 2004.
They kicked off a study last year after a string of major train wrecks in Bexar County killed five people, released hazardous materials and sent shivers through the community.
At the same time, pressure was put on Union Pacific to beef up safety.
The study still is five months away from targeting solutions, but one idea is to build new tracks on the Southeast Side near Loop 1604 — an endeavor that could cost up to $2 billion. Construction wouldn’t even start for a decade.
A bigger question is where the money will come from.
Voters last year approved a proposition to let the state sell bonds to buy land and build and improve tracks, but the Legislature still needs to come up with funds. Texas Department of Transportation officials suggested coming up with $200 million to back $2 billion worth of bonds.
But with rail needs statewide running $12 billion to $14 billion, competition will be fierce.
With rerouting a distant prospect and repairs uncertain, Tuesday’s derailment left many in the neighborhood shaken and nervous about the immediate future.
Rudy Gomez, who lives three houses from the tracks, said he believes excessive speed was to blame. After nearly 40 years in his home, he’s become familiar with the sound a train makes while rattling along the tracks, and he said this one made a impression on him, particularly as he heard the brakes screech and felt his home rattle.
“This thing was barreling through the neighborhood. I knew we were in trouble,” he said.
Neighborhood resident James Laform had other ideas. He walks the tracks often and said he has noticed that for the past month they’ve appeared to be in disrepair, with spikes protruding and ties splintered and splitting.
Union Pacific’s Arbona said the railroad spent $56 million last year to repair and add track in the San Antonio area.
Maria Berriozabal, co-founder of the Beacon Hill Area Neighborhood Association, said the incident has highlighted a major safety issue for the densely populated neighborhood.
She pointed to nearby apartments that cater to senior citizens and sit within a few blocks of the derailment, wondering what would have happened if the train had been carrying hazardous material instead of tools and paper products.
“It’s a very vulnerable population,” said Berriozabal, who also is a former City Council member.
Javier Hernandez, another Beacon Hill resident, simply wants the trains out of his neighborhood.
“Why do we have to wait for a tragedy?” he asked. “As many trains that drive through this sucker, sooner or later we’re going to have a catastrophe.”