(The following article by Cadonna Peyton was posted on the Press-Enterprise website on November 13.)
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Union Pacific Railroad workers on Saturday unloaded chlorine from a damaged train car to prepare it for transport, fire officials said.
The car was part of a train that derailed in April near Foothill Boulevard and North Macy Street in San Bernardino, just east of Rialto.
The derailment caused the evacuation of 200 nearby residents because the train carried hazardous chemicals, including liquid propane, liquid chlorine and a combustible liquid.
Joe Harris, a hazardous-materials specialist with the Rialto Fire Department, said Union Pacific workers were allowed to move the damaged car, which had no brakes or couplers to connect to another car, to the rail yard near Slover Avenue in Rialto.
The car has been sitting on the yard for the past six months while a pump was built to unload the 90 tons of chlorine to a working railroad car, Harris said.
The unloading started in the morning and was expected to take 12 hours, he said. There were 16 railroad officials and workers on site, as well as about 19 fire officials for safety precautions.