(The following story by Patrina A. Bostic appeared on the News-Journal website on March 21.)
LONGVIEW, Texas — A Union Pacific single locomotive switching rails early Tuesday might have swiped a different locomotive carrying a five-tank cargo, causing it to derail and spill a small amount of the fuel butanol, said Joe Arbona, a Union Pacific spokesman.
The crash occurred at about 1 a.m. on tracks above Eastman Road, between Whaley Street and Rothrock Drive. No injuries were reported.
Arbona said workers had already cleaned up the few ounces of the fuel that spilled.
“If you are going to have a derailment, this is the kind to have. There were no injuries (and) … no significant release of chemical of any kind,” said Russell Marshall, special operations chief for the Longview Fire Department.
According to Texas Department of Transportation Tyler spokesman Larry Krantz, the northbound side of U.S. 259 is down to one lane in each direction and the southbound side is closed.
“We’re only talking about at the site of the derailment. … about 1,000 feet, but it’s enough to mess up traffic a little,” Krantz said.
Krantz said TxDot is at the site at the request of the City of Longview.
“We might be here all night,” he said. “If they are able to drag the cars away, we might be able to open up the northbound lane completely and open one side of the southbound lane, but I really don’t expect traffic to return to normal any sooner than tomorrow morning.”