The Ponton train derailment, near Ponton, Manitoba on September 15, 2018, fatally injured train conductor Kevin Anderson, injured the train's engineer, and triggered a spill of diesel fuel. [1]
The Ponton train derailment, near Ponton, Manitoba on September 15, 2018, fatally injured train conductor Kevin Anderson, injured the train's engineer, and triggered a spill of diesel fuel. [1]
The train, which was Hudson Bay Railway (1997) train 995-15 was pulled by 3 locomotives, which were HLCX 1084, LLPX 2605 and GMTX 2146, all of which are GP38-2 diesel locomotives. The three locomotives were hauling 27 railcars, some of which contained "several dozen" tanker cars, loaded with "liquid petroleum". [2] Initially Arctic Gateway Group reported that no oil had been spilled. [3] On September 19 Global News described the train's cargo in greater detail, stating it included gasoline, liquid propane gas and butane. [4] Global reported that while none of the cargo had been spilled rail workers were trying to contain diesel fuel that was leaking from the locomotives.
The train was crossing the Metishto River, when it derailed. [5] Accounts differ as to when the train derailed. Global reports the train derailed at 6:45 pm. [4] CBC reports the train derailed around 3:45 am. [1] First responders arrived around 5:45. Anderson's autopsy stated Anderson died from blood loss, and his wounds were survivable. However he continued to bleed for hours, after first responders arrived.
By September 20 several news sources reported an investigator from the Transportation Safety Board attributed the derailment to the work of beavers. [5] [6]
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula C3H8. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is often a constituent of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is commonly used as a fuel in domestic and industrial applications and in low-emissions public transportation; other constituents of LPG may include propylene, butane, butylene, butadiene, and isobutylene. Discovered in 1857 by the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot, it became commercially available in the US by 1911. Propane has lower volumetric energy density than gasoline or coal, but has higher gravimetric energy density than them and burns more cleanly.
A pipeline is a system of pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than 2,175,000 miles (3,500,000 km) of pipeline in 120 countries around the world. The United States had 65%, Russia had 8%, and Canada had 3%, thus 76% of all pipeline were in these three countries. The main attribute to pollution from pipelines is caused by corrosion and leakage.
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
Via Rail Canada Inc., operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian national transportation agency. It is a Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada.
Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas, is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, n-butane and isobutane. It can sometimes contain some propylene, butylene, and isobutene.
The Weyauwega derailment was a railroad accident that occurred in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, United States, in the early morning hours of March 4, 1996. The derailed train was carrying a large quantity of hazardous material, which immediately caught fire. The fire, which involved the train cars and an adjacent feed mill, burned for more than two weeks after the actual derailment, resulting in the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 18 days, including the entire city of Weyauwega, with about 1,700 evacuees.
Hudson Bay Railway is a Canadian short line railway operating over 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of track in northeastern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba.
Montana Rail Link was a privately held Class II railroad in the United States. It operated on trackage originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway and leased from its successor BNSF Railway. MRL was a unit of The Washington Companies and was headquartered in Missoula, Montana.
The Mississauga train derailment, also known as the Mississauga Miracle, occurred on November 10, 1979, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, when a CP Rail freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire. More than 200,000 people were evacuated in the largest peacetime evacuation in North America until Hurricane Katrina. The fire was caused by a failure of the lubricating system. No deaths resulted from the incident.
Petroleum transport is the transportation of petroleum and derivatives such as gasoline (petrol). Petroleum products are transported via rail cars, trucks, tanker vessels, and pipeline networks. The method used to move the petroleum products depends on the volume that is being moved and its destination. Even the modes of transportation on land such as pipeline or rail have their own strengths and weaknesses. One of the key differences are the costs associated with transporting petroleum though pipeline or rail. The biggest problems with moving petroleum products are pollution related and the chance of spillage. Petroleum oil is very hard to clean up and is very toxic to living animals and their surroundings.
MacMillan Yard is the main Toronto-area railway classification yard for Canadian National Railway (CN), and is located in the nearby suburb of Vaughan, Ontario. It is the second largest railway classification yard in Canada, after CN's Symington Yard in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was originally opened in 1965 as Toronto Yard, but was renamed MacMillan Yard in 1975 after former CN president Norman John MacMillan.
Butane is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane exists as two isomers, n-butane with connectivity CH3CH2CH2CH3 and iso-butane with the formula (CH3)3CH. Both isomers are highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gases that quickly vaporize at room temperature and pressure. Butanes are a trace components of natural gases (NG gases). The other hydrocarbons in NG include propane, ethane, and especially methane, which are more abundant. Liquified natural gas is a mixture of propane and some butanes.
In rail transport, the U.S. DOT-111 tank car, also known as the TC-111 in Canada, is a type of unpressurized general service tank car in common use in North America. Tank cars built to this specification must be circular in cross section, with elliptical, formed heads set convex outward. They have a minimum plate thickness of 7⁄16 inch (11.1 mm) and a maximum capacity of 34,500 US gallons. Tanks may be constructed from carbon steel, aluminum alloy, high alloy steel, or nickel plate steel by fusion welding.
The Metishto River is a tributary of the Grass River, which is, in turn a tributary of the Nelson River, that ultimately flows into Hudson Bay. Its headwaters lie "a short distance from the northwest arm of Moose Lake".
The engineer survived, but an autopsy report on Anderson said he bled to death after suffering "serious but survivable injuries."
On Saturday, there was a derailment on the line. Reports are that the train which went off the rails on a bridge crossing a creek had three locomotives and twenty-seven cars. It was carrying Liquified Petroleum. None of those cars are reported to be leaking.
The train that derailed had three locomotives and several dozen rail cars, some of which were carrying liquefied petroleum. None of the cars were "compromised," said company officials.
The train was carrying cargo including gasoline, liquid propane gas and butane, but there has been no indication that any of that has spilled or leaked.
A Transportation Safety Board investigator says beavers may have contributed to the train derailment in northern Manitoba that left one railway worker dead and another injured.
A Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigator revealed that beavers were likely a contributing factor to a train derailment near Ponton, Manitoba, that resulted in the death of a railway worker.
