(The following story by Mary Moreno appeared on the San Antonio Express-News website on October 15.)
SAN ANTONIO — Union Pacific is beginning to learn the financial cost of its trains tumbling off Bexar County tracks five times in five months.
The San Antonio Fire Department said Thursday it is billing the railroad giant more than $130,000 for three derailments that involved the department’s hazardous materials team.
Bexar County also plans to send the railroad company a bill, although no one with the county auditor’s or judge’s offices could say how much the county would charge.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said it is not unusual for agencies that provide emergency services to bill the company.
There have been five train derailments in Bexar County since May 3, with varying severity.
The most serious happened June 28 when a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train collided with a Union Pacific train, puncturing four rail cars carrying chlorine gas and ammonium nitrate. Leaking fumes killed three people and sent about 50 others to area hospitals.
The other train derailments occurred Sept. 16, Sept. 24 and Monday.
District Fire Chief Randy Jenkins, the department’s spokesman, said most of the money being charged to the railroad is for the June 28 derailment. That part of the bill comes to $90,494 for manpower, equipment and supplies.
“There were a lot of expenses involved in that incident,” Jenkins said.
Another portion of the bill was $17,103 for the May 3 derailment near Brackenridge High School, which caused a 5,600-gallon diesel fuel spill along the San Antonio River.
The Sept. 24 derailment, also near Brackenridge, rang up to $23,214.
The company wasn’t billed for the two other derailments because hazmat wasn’t needed, Jenkins said.
The Fire Department regularly bills businesses that require the hazmat team, Jenkins said, and it bills individuals for some medical services and high-water rescues from vehicles.
Jenkins said Union Pacific has paid at least $20,000 toward the bill “in a timely manner.” The entire bill hasn’t yet been sent to the railroad.
The county’s emergency management office will bill Union Pacific for labor and equipment, said Scott Lampright, assistant emergency management coordinator for the county.
Lampright said the bill includes 174.5 regular man-hours and 116 overtime hours, as well as $175.30 in cell phone costs.
Other departments also might submit charges.
The Southwest Volunteer Fire Department was heavily involved in the June 28 derailment, but its chief, Darrell Scraper, refused to say whether the department would seek reimbursement.
Davis said the company would consider all bills.
“We settle the bills sent to the railroad on a case-to-case basis.”