(The following article by Imran Ghori and David Raclin was posted on the Press-Enterprise website on April 5.)
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed at about 8:20 p.m. Monday near Foothill Boulevard and North Macy Street in San Bernardino just east of the Rialto border, officials said.
Two hundred residents of the 100 to 400 blocks of Macy Street, including occupants of a nearby mobile home park, were evacuated, officials said.
While the train’s two engines were on the tracks, 13 freight cars had left the tracks, San Bernardino Police Sgt. Lee Shennault said Monday by phone. Of the derailed cars, two cars carried liquid propane, two had liquid chlorine and three carried a combustible liquid. Of the remaining cars, one carried plastic beads and the others were empty. As of 11 p.m., no leaks had been detected, but evacuations would remain in place until midday today, officials said.
William Wilson Lewis III / The Press-Enterprise
Paul Piepenhagen, center, gets help loading three cats into a cage when he was told to evacuate his mobile home in San Bernardino after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed.
San Bernardino City Fire Department and hazardous-materials teams responded to the incident.
“We’re really fortunate, especially with the chlorine loads and residents being so close,” said San Bernardino Fire Capt. Eric Esquivel at the scene.
A spokesman for Union Pacific, which merged with Southern Pacific in 1996, did not return multiple messages.
While there have been many smaller accidents over the years, the derailment in a residential area about two miles to the north more than 15 years ago made a lasting impression in the region.
Three people were killed and 11 homes destroyed in a May 12, 1989 derailment of a Southern Pacific train on Duffy Street in San Bernardino. Monday’s derailment was about two miles south of the Duffy wreck.
An underground gasoline pipeline under the Duffy wreck blew up 13 days later, killing three more and injuring dozens.
The Duffy train lost control coming down the Cajon Pass and was moving at about 90 miles per hour, three times the safe speed for the curve, went down a flood-control levee and hit the homes.
The pipeline burst exactly where the train derailed. Residents had been told it was safe to return to their homes after the derailment. More than 50 victims of the derailment and explosion sued Southern Pacific, the pipeline company and others in multiple lawsuits and were awarded several million dollars.