It will take at least a week — maybe two — for wreckage from a Union Pacific train derailment to be cleared from tracks about five miles south of Moran, a company spokesman said today.
The freight train was en route from Kansas City to Fort Worth, Texas, when the derailment occurred about 4 a.m. Monday. The cause of the derailment remains under investigation. The train had two crew members, its engineer and conductor. Neither was injured.
A 23-mile stretch of U.S. 59, from Moran to the highway’s intersection with K-23, will remain closed until sometime Wednesday, according to information from the Kansas Department of Transportation. The highway runs parallel to the tracks for about 16 of those 23 miles.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis told the Register that the 32 derailed cars would have to be cleared before at least 500 feet of damaged railroad tracks are replaced. The 1.25-mile-long train had 114 cars in all.
Of the 32 cars, 18 were loaded, carrying a variety of goods including three cars of the flammable ethylene, and other nonhazardous items such as ketchup, corn meal and flour, plastic pellets, pulp wood, steel and cement.
One of the cars containing ethylene and another with the plastic pellets caught fire immediately after the derailment.
A controlled burn was planned early this afternoon to remove the ethylene, “the safest way to get it out of there,” Davis said.
Residents near the crash site were allowed to return to their homes, but then were ordered to evacuate again Monday evening after a second boxcar with ethylene caught fire. The fire in the second car was coming from a pressure relief valve, Davis said, “which is the way it’s supposed to work. The key is to control the pressure to prevent another explosion.”
Cranes and other heavy equipment will be used to remove the products from the other cars. Once emptied, the cars will be removed so the tracks can be replaced. The highway was to remain closed while the equipment was taken to the crash site.
Davis estimated 25 trains use those tracks each day. Rail traffic was diverted to other routes, passing through Coffeyville or Parsons instead.
Union Pacific also has set up a claims center to compensate any residents near the accident site for expenses incurred due to evacuations prompted by the derailment. Those folks can call toll-free (877) 877-2567.
Davis said air quality tests conducted through the day Monday indicated no hazards to neighboring areas.
Train cleanup proceeds
