Toxic train spills are rare, deadly

Rail accidents such as the Graniteville train wreck represent a small percentage of the toxic transportation spills in 16 states, a federal health report states, but when they occur, the results can be catastrophic.

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Only 2 percent of the spills occurred in rail-related incidents or accidents from 1993 to 2005, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention registry of emergency events involving toxic releases.

But as the release of an estimated 60 tons of chlorine in the Jan. 6 wreck of a Norfolk Southern freight underscores, the results of those events can be deadly. Nine people were killed and an estimated 529 people sought medical treatment after that wreck, the CDC report states.

"Railroad releases aren't that common, but because railroads carry such large volumes of material, they can have a big impact when they do occur," said Maureen Orr, a CDC epidemiologist who oversees the agency's Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance System.

Although potentially deadly, chlorine spills are relatively rare, representing less than one percent of the 1,165 rail events tracked by the CDC survey. Sulfuric acid, at 5.6 percent; sodium hydroxide, at 4.6 percent; hydrochloric acid, at 4.1 percent; and ammonia, at 3.9 percent, were the more prevalent hazardous substances spilled in either rail accidents or the loading and unloading of rail cars.

Those findings track the top seven hazardous materials transported by rail, according to figures compiled for 2002 by the American Association of Railroads' Bureau of Explosives. Sodium hydroxide solution, which was also carried by Norfolk Southern Train 192 when it wrecked in Graniteville, was the most hazardous cargo at 85,000 carloads. Chlorine was the seventh most hazardous cargo at 37,000 carloads.

Rail accidents that release hazardous material are relatively rare, said Tom White, a spokesman for the American Associa-tion of Railroads. Of the 1.7 million carloads of freight carried in 2003, only 25 accidents resulted in a release, he said.

There have been two deadly chlorine releases from rail accidents in the past three years - the Graniteville wreck and the June collision of a Union Pacific train with a Burlington Northern/Santa Fe freight in San Antonio where three people died and 44 were injured. The CDC report also noted an August 2002 release of chlorine at a Missouri chemical plant when a flex hose ruptured during the unloading of a rail car.

But Mr. White said this incident shouldn't be included in the CDC report because railroads don't own most of the nation's 200,000 tank cars and aren't responsible for loading them.

"Every year we handle thousands of carloads of it without any problem," Mr. White said.

Ms. Orr said the purpose of the CDC's report is not to affix blame, but to underscore the need for emergency planners to find out hazardous materials are being carried through their communities by rail, pipeline and truck. Because trains carry such large volumes, emergency planners need to pay particular attention to the contents of rail traffic.

"Any area that has railroads going through them needs to plan for something like this," Ms. Orr said.

Reach Jim Nesbitt at (706) 828-3904 or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com.

Special Section: Graniteville Train Wreck

On January 6, 2005, a Norfolk Southern Corp. freight train carrying chemicals hit a parked train near an Avondale Mills plant in Graniteville, South Carolina. The impact caused poisonous chlorine gas to leak from three of the moving train's cars. Nine people were killed and more than 5,000 people were evacuated from the site.

For complete coverage of the Graniteville train wreck, visit our special section.

--From the Tuesday, February 1, 2005 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle