(The following story by Randy Lee Loftis appeared on The Dallas Morning News website on April 28.)
DALLAS — A dozen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed in South Dallas early Wednesday. Some flammable liquid leaked from overturned tank cars, but no one was injured, railroad and Dallas-Fire Rescue officials said.
The derailment happened on a Union-Pacific track just west of the 5500 block of South Lamar Street. Railroad spokesman Mark Davis said the wreck occurred about midnight as an 87-car train headed to Fort Worth from Louisiana was switching from a single track onto one fork of a double track.
The train, pulled by three locomotives, was moving at 17 mph, Mr. Davis said. Accident investigators were still probing the cause, he said.
Mr. Davis said the 12 cars that left the track included four carrying flammable liquids, two with molasses, two with clay and one with perlite, a naturally occurring rock used in potting soil and manufacturing. Three cars were empty, he said.
Two liquids leaked from tank cars after the derailment, Mr. Davis said. They included 60 gallons of butyl acrylate, a flammable liquid, and 10 gallons of alcohol, he said. Butyl acrylate is used in textiles, paint and other products.
Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Lt. J.D. Garcia said the department’s Hazardous Materials Team responded after getting a call at 12:15 a.m. “We had a little trouble finding it at first,” Lt. Garcia said. A Dallas police helicopter located the wreck and directed the firefighters, he said.
At the scene, they found cars upside down but detected no leaks, he said. Union Pacific’s hazardous materials contractor arrived and took over the response, Lt. Garcia said.
The cleanup continued through the morning; by noon the track had been cleared and repaired so other trains could pass, but the cause of the derailment remained under investigation.
(WFAA-TV reporter Cynthia Vega contributed to this story.)