Published: July 23, 2007 11:47 pm            

Sunday train derailment in Sullivan County leads to spill of 20,000 gallons of hazardous waste

Five of train’s cars carried liquid petroleum gas; two ruptured

A train derailment Sunday in Sullivan County has rail crews investigating what caused the wreck that led to a spill of 20,000 gallons of a hazardous material, said Chris Rund of the Indiana Rail Road Co.

No injuries occurred, and there is no threat of water contamination, officials said.

At 7:30 a.m. a 21-car freight train was traveling from the Marathon Oil Refinery in Robinson, Ill., to Jasonville. The train had reached a point about one mile east of Merom Station when eight of the cars derailed and collided.

Two of the derailed cars carried liquid-petroleum gas; one car was empty; and five cars carried slurry oil, two of which ruptured, resulting in a 20,000-gallon spill of the heavy, low-grade oil used in manufacturing petroleum products.

The spill was contained to within 500 feet of the tracks.

The remaining derailed cars were stabilized and not in danger of discharging material, although they had tumbled over onto their sides, Rund said.

“The cause remains under investigation at this time. We have ruled out human error as part of train crew,” he said of the unspecified number of crewmen onboard.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management responded to the scene to oversee the cleanup process and assess area ground contamination.

Amy Hartsock of IDEM said the remaining cars were set back onto the tracks, taken back to the company that they came from and offloaded.

        

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