Train Derails in Lynchburg, Virginia: City Officials

[elleng]

A train derailed in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia on Wednesday, according to a statement published by city officials.

A spokeswoman said several train cars derailed around 2 p.m. EDT and there is fire and smoke at the site of the incident.

"We have no reports of injuries right now. The area is being evacuated," said Joann Martin, director of communications for the city of Lynchburg.

"We do not know yet what the train was carrying," she added.

A photo posted online by city authorities showed flammable liquid tank cars. At least seven train cars had derailed in the image in big plumes of smoke and flames.

Local media reported that the train belonged to CSX Corp. Reuters could not immediately verify this information.

A series of fiery derailments of trains carrying crude oil over the past year have prompted critics to question the safety of hauling explosive liquids by rail.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/04/30/us/30reuters-railray-accident-virginia.html?hp

[underpants]

1. Video here (00:12)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/train-derails-in-lynchburg-va/2014/04/30/a554bd7c-d09d-11e3-a714-be7e7f142085_video.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Oil train derailed and on fire in Lynchburg, Virginia

Last edited Thu May 1, 2014, 03:10 PM - Edit history (2)

OIL Train derailed and on fire in Lynchburg VA

Date: 04/30/14 11:26
OIL Train derailed and on fire in Lynchburg VA
Author: emd_mrs1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/train-derails-in-downtown-lynchburg/article_a28bf610-d092-11e3-b96d-001a4bcf6878.html

It is said (confirmed) to be an oil train headed for Yorktown VA. Big cloud of black smoke. More to come....

Picture

http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/train-derails-in-downtown-lynchburg/article_a28bf610-d092-11e3-b96d-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=image&photo=0

BIG fire picture, includes riverbank brush.



Train info:
"There was a crude oil train on duty at 0915 out of Clifton Forge..."

Burning oil is flowing in the James River too.

Live coverage (for now) http://www.wset.com/story/25392359/train-has-derailed-in-lynchburg

Appears under control 3pm.

Michael

Later posts show that it had the symbol KO82.

For those of you who are not train enthusiasts, a "KO82" is a train on CSX carrying oil from Cicero, Illinois, to Yorktown, Virginia, where there had been a refinery owned by Amoco. The facility now handles barge loading, and it is owned and operated by Plains All American Pipeline LP.

CSX K Series: Bulk Commodity unit trains

This train was travelling on the old Chesapeake and Ohio Railway James River line, which follows the James River all the way from just outside Clifton Forge, Virginia, to the Chesapeake Bay. These tracks are right down by the river. They run in an east-west direction. Lynchburg is also served by Norfolk Southern, but that carrier is not involved.

Train carrying crude oil derails in downtown Lynchburg

I can't tell from the pictures whether the tank cars were of the DOT-111 design. That design was the subject of much discussion in last week's hearings at the National Transportation Safety Board.

Train derails in downtown Lynchburg

Oil train accidents were the topic of National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman last week at a two-day safety forum in Washington.

Hersman said the Obama administration needed to take steps immediately to protect the public from potentially catastrophic oil train accidents even if it means using emergency authority.

[elleng]

3. Awful!

[underpants]

4. Video - river on fire. Richmond - possible alternate water supply plans

http://m.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/train-carrying-crude-oil-derails-in-downtown-lynchburg/article_ca91041c-d096-11e3-ae9b-0017a43b2370.html?mode=jqm

[sofa king]

5. God told me it was because of Falwell.

* Lynchburg is so conservative, slick and dirty, nobody noticed the spill until it caught fire.

* Liberty University students turned out to pray away the flames.

* Locals were quick to blame David Hunter.

* Local television news cautions klansmen that no events are planned by the river tonight....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Here are earlier views of oil trains on their way through Lynchburg.

Viewing Album: Oil train passages through Lynchburg, VA



This train went through on March 26, 2014.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. The Bad Oil Boom: Train Explodes in Virginia Town While Regulators Chug Along

The Bad Oil Boom: Train Explodes in Virginia Town While Regulators Chug Along

Disasters
By Matthew Philips April 30, 2014

....
The derailment is the latest in a series of oil train explosions in the U.S. and Canada over the past several months. As the U.S. oil boom has cranked up, trains have become the preferred mode of transport for much of the oil industry. In the third quarter of 2013, trains carried 93,312 carloads of crude oil, or about 66 million barrels—about 900 percent more than in all of 2008. Much of that crude is coming out of the remote Bakken region of North Dakota.
....

The derailment comes as Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is preparing to send his list of “options” on crude-by-rail safety to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. From there, the industry will have a chance to comment before any final rules are enacted. The deadline for new rules doesn’t come until the end of the year, but DOT officials say they’re hoping to be done before then. President Obama has the authority to circumvent this entire process and issue what are called interim final rules, but he has yet to indicate a willingness to do so.

One of the biggest areas of debate concerns the quality of tank car used to transport crude. The DOT-111 class tank car (PDF) has been involved in most of the crude-train explosions, including the one last summer in Quebec that killed 47 people. Although it’s widely deemed unfit for transporting crude, the DOT-111 is used to move the vast majority of oil sent by train in the U.S. It’s also the same classification of car that’s used to haul agricultural commodities such as corn or soybeans. Foxx has said in the past that he thinks the DOT-111 is going to “have to be either retrofitted or replaced.”

Last week, Canadian regulators aggressively moved to phase out all DOT-111s from hauling crude within three years. While the railroad industry is generally in favor of the shift, the oil industry has been less enthusiastic about absorbing the cost of leasing stronger tank cars. It’s also unclear whether alternate styles of tank cars would be any safer in the event of a crash. A handful of oil companies, however, such as Tesoro (TSO), have begun to phase out the DOT-111 and lease more robust cars.

Concerns grow about safety of oil tank cars

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Oil Train That Crashed in Lynchburg Was Moving Below New Speed Limit

Oil Train That Crashed in Lynchburg Was Moving Below New Speed Limit

Cars Carting Crude Were Traveling Just 24 Miles an Hour at the Time

By Betsy Morris And Laura Stevens

Updated May 1, 2014 8:01 p.m. ET

A train that derailed and caught fire in Lynchburg, Va., Wednesday was traveling well below a new speed limit set by railroads to try to improve safety in transporting crude oil.

Railroads said in February that they would slow long oil trains to no more than 40 miles an hour in high-risk urban areas by July 1, in an attempt to prevent explosive derailments such as one in July 2013 that killed 47 people and devastated the town of....