(The following story by Joe Ruff appeared on the Omaha World-Herald websit eon May 29.)
OMAHA, NEB. — Omaha is not a heavily traveled rail corridor for hazardous materials.
But shipments are inevitable when people need chemicals such as anhydrous ammonia for fertilizer, chlorine to treat water and liquefied petroleum gas to heat buildings and to power manufacturing plants.
An area of south Omaha that included about 100 homes, the Henry Doorly Zoo and Rosenblatt Stadium was evacuated Wednesday night after hydrochloric acid leaked from a railcar at BNSF Railway Co. yards near 13th Street and Missouri Avenue.
No injuries were reported. People were allowed back into their homes early today.
A railroad employee detected the leak at about 5 p.m. and alerted management, which let Omaha fire and police officials know and they reacted quickly, said BNSF spokesman Joe Faust.
Between 300 gallons and 600 gallons of the acid leaked, and there was no threat of serious injury, Faust said. Symptoms of exposure could have included skin or lung irritation, Faust said.
A claims center was set up today and will operate through Saturday at police offices at 2475 Deer Park Blvd., Faust said. The railroad will reimburse people for food, lodging, transportation or other expenses, he said.
Investigation into the leak was continuing, but it may have been caused by equipment failure, Faust said. The incident will be reported to the Federal Railroad Administration. The railcar did not appear to have been tampered with, Faust said.
The tank car carrying the hydrochloric acid was not owned by BNSF, and the railroad declined to name the customer. Major railroads generally do not own hazardous material tank cars. Chemical companies and other shippers own or lease the cars from tank car manufacturers.
Hydrochloric acid has a variety of applications, including the production of chlorides, fertilizers and dyes.
Omaha is not a major rail corridor for hazardous materials carried by Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF or Omaha-based Union Pacific Corp., Faust and Union Pacific officials said.
For security reasons, Union Pacific does not disclose amounts or specific types of hazardous materials flowing through the Omaha area. BNSF’s Faust said he did not know how much is transported on his railroad through Omaha each year.
Both railroads train their employees to respond to emergencies, and they help train fire, police, medical and other officials in each community in which they operate. The railroads also have special hazardous material response and cleanup teams, and BNSF has such experts in Omaha. In addition, a BNSF air quality testing team from Arkansas responded to Wednesday’s incident, Faust said.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said U.P. leads the rail industry in shipments of hazardous material, primarily because of its routes across the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana and connections with industrialized Michigan and Ohio. Those areas are heavily dotted with chemical plants.
Railroads are considered the safest mode for transporting hazardous materials, Davis said. They also have worked with the Federal Railroad Administration and chemical companies to beef up tank cars and take other precautions.
The federal agency has begun working with railroads to establish the safest and most secure routes for trains carrying hazardous materials by September 2009. Companies must evaluate routes according to risk factors that include population density and track quality.
Also this year, the railroad administration proposed safety standards for tank cars that include enhanced protection against punctures and a maximum speed limit for transporting such materials.
Union Pacific officials have said the tank car specifications were similar to work it has been doing with Dow Chemical Co. to develop and implement a safer hazardous materials tank car by 2017.
Even ethanol is a hazardous material because it is flammable. Last year, Union Pacific had a special training team in Omaha to help first responders understand ethanol response and transport issues, Davis said.
Union Pacific disaster teams are placed strategically across the country, including Omaha, North Platte, Neb., the Kansas City are, Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Davis said.