Freight Train Crash Releases Toxic Chemical Gas Cloud | Bite-Sized Docs

train crashes are never good events I know hardly the most enlightening comment we know this as well a lot of this Channel's content is rail based blls ups but another bread and butter subject that I often cover is that of chemical related disasters well today's subject is the coupling of both types of disaster and this is what happens when a freight train has an accident today's subject is the Unlucky mix of fatigue lack of Protection Systems a derailment and a chemical release oh when that previous pun was intended welcome to PL difficult and today we're looking at the 2004 macdon train disaster background rail Freight is a vital part of many country's economies again not a very surprising comment they are often the only way to carry massive amounts of cargo across land efficiently and are generally A Safe Transportation method especially when comp to Road one such country that makes use of freight quite extensively is the United States and they have some insanely long trains but although having impressive train lengths the USC's rail infrastructure could be considered as a little bit underdeveloped now I don't want to insult anyone even the UK has many flaws and shortcomings so don't come at me in the comments so how do I mean underdeveloped well in the way trains are protected from the ramifications of passing a danger signal as many parts of the US rail network during today's video time period is devoid of a train protection system bu safety on the railway is purely down to the squidgy meat puppet at the controls another issue is at many parts of single tracks understandable in low traffic areas but what happens when two trains are on the line This is where passing loops and sidings are required where one train will diverge off the mainline to allow an oncoming train to pass this in combination with lack of train Protection Systems can be a recipe for disaster now remember this for later on this is the village of macdonna it's 17 M from San Antonio Texas just a short drive out of the village along the Nelson Road and over the Medina river is the 8,490 Ft long MacDonald siding it runs parallel to the near by Union Pacific Mainline trains run in both East and West directions and it is part of the Dell Rio subdivision which is a total of 178 Mi long and runs from the Union Pacific Kirby yard in San Antonio to Del Rio Texas since 1996 the Union Pacific has operated the route with BNSF Trains also running along the tracks between Eagle Pass and San Antonio the mainline has a maximum speed of 60 MPH for freight trains but was timetabled for a speed of 50 with diverging points at the siding at mcdonal has a max speed of 25 mph the area is signaled for west to east movements using free signals on approach to the converging Junction with the West part of the siding now there are other signals in the area but these are the ones we're going to focus on for today's subject the East End of the siding is cited on a curve which can reduce visibility for the protecting signal of the West End of the sidings the points are remotely controlled from the train dispatcher now none of the signals in the area have positive train control at least in the early 2000s this video is sponsored by private internet access Pia a virtual private network is an application that hides your IP address and Safeguard your internet connection through an encrypted tunnel this way it Shields your Digital Life from the ey or those who are looking to exploit and take your private information using the internet without Pia is like having a garden with no lawn mower I use public Wi-Fi a lot as I'm out and about and having a VPN is essential as it protects your information from anyone on the same Wi-Fi network with bad intentions as they could have the ability to steal your personal data with ease including sensitive information such as passwords key strokes and even your personal photographs although no one would actually want any of my photographs Pia also has has the ability for you to change your IP address to any one of their 91 different countries which is good when you want to buy things from another country and get local prices it's also good if you use streaming services which have region locked content and not only can you change your IP address to a different country you can even pretend to be in any of all 50 US states allowing you to gain access to websites and services that are only available locally Pia works on all major platforms and now you can use one private internet access subscription to protect an unlimited number of devices at the same time so to check out Pia go to www.p vpn.com plainly difficult to get 83% off private internet access with four months for free now let's get back to the video the disaster time to get out your bingo cards it is the Sunday of the 27th of June 2004 and a train crew is taking over a train at Seiko Texas it is a 123 wagon long train consisting of an empty load it is just over 7,000 ft long and weighs in at 4,065 tons this is BNSF me ap- TL 126d but for the ease of telling this story I'll just call it the BNSF train the crew are informed of a change of Final Destination instead of running to San Anton anonio they are to run to the siding at McDon where they will secure a train for another crew to take it over later on the journey will run into the 28th of June meanwhile at around 3:00 a.m. on the 28th of June at the Union Pacific Kirby yard in San Antonio another train crew are booking on to work Union Pacific MH t-23 a 74 wagon loaded 5,6 46 ft long train consist again for shortness I'll just call this the Union Pacific train they are running to Del Rio 154 M away and part of the Train's Freight is liquefied chlorine in standard tank wagons the Union Pacific crew is made up of an engineer or driver and a conductor aged 37 and 23 years respectively the train depart San Antonio at around 4:00 a.m. half an hour later the train stops at M poost 214 to allow another Union Pacific train ahead of it onto the line out to Laro after this brief stop the Union Pacific train picks up speed following the Laredo bound train at a speed of 20 mph after this train diverges off the main line and the Union Pacific train gets a clear signal at Withers it then picks up speed to 49 mph it passes ourl Junction signal also showing clear the train passes two Crossings interestingly the driver failed to Sound the Horn as required in the rules at 4:55 a.m. the dynamic brakes are applied bringing the train speed down to 37 mph the train continued reducing its speed to 31 m hour the train is now approaching the next signal which is showing Advanced approach this is a flashing yellow and it tells the driver that he must be below 40 mph what this is indicating to the driver is that the signal at the West End of the mcdonal siding is showing stop or red the driver takes power and the speed of the Union Pacific train increases to 46 M an hour it now passes the East End signal of the McDonald sidings which is showing approach this requires the train to be below 30 mph but still the Train's speed increases at this moment the BNSF train is up ahead and traversing the points into the West End of the sidings but the vast length of the train is still fouling the line the BNSF Train's leading locomotive is rolling along the siding it crew sees the Union Pacific train on the parallel line approaching the stop signal at the sidings West End but they can tell it's going way too fast to be able to stop the Union Pacific train passes the stop signal at roughly 44 mph and collides with the BNSF Train's 63d car the BNSF Trains automatic brakes apply this was at around around 5:03 in the morning so the brake application was because the train had been severed and the brake pipe now was incomplete the four locomotives of the Union Pacific train were flung off the track followed by 19 wagons the 16th wagon was a pressurized tank car carrying chlorine gas during the crash it is punctured and a toxic chemical cloud is expelled into the air with a trash train around them the Union Pacific crew escaped the lead locomotive and fled northward trying to avoid and escape the gas they reached a wooded area near the Nelson Road shortly after the conductor passed out the engineer unable to lift him moved eastbound on his own meanwhile the BNSF crew radioed the Union Pacific dispatcher to inform them of the break application one of the crew members informed them that they're going to go back and check on the Union Pacific train the dispatcher had been trying to get in contact with the Pacific train previously and after losing points control put two and two together and made the first emergency call for First Responders Upon returning the BNSF crew member then makes an emergency call himself to the dispatcher informing them that he could see smoke emanating from the Union Pacific train the BNSF crew were told to leave their train and make their way eastbound away from the Collision where they are picked up by the train master and taken for debrief and Drug testing pretty much as soon as the Collision occurred multiple 911 calls came in one was from a residence that was adjacent to the railway tracks trapped inside their building by claing gas the first to be dispatched were the local volunteer firefighters however the extent of the disaster wasn't completely clear because of this they were underprepared understandably they held back and called in extra support not long after they returned in protective clothing and breathing apparatus a little while after 6:15 in the morning the First Responders discovered a body near the Nelson Road it was the Union Pacific conductor the great Crossing in the Nelson Road was obstructed by the trains th stopping assistance reaching the two Residential Properties engulfed by the chlorine Cloud at 6:33 in the morning a specialist Hazard team arrived and created a 2 Mile exclusion Zone restricting entry to the crash site three residents inside one of the houses was still stuck inside by the chlorine gas after a few hours of bungled debate about who was in charge and what to do at 9:45 a.m. firefighters attempted their first Rescue Mission this was cut short due to the team becoming disorientated in the smoke and gas a second entry team was called in to assist in evacuation of the first finally a third attempt reached the three trapped individuals and began evacuating them at 10:45 a.m. over an hour later the second residence was entered and two bodies were discovered they had been fatally injured by the chlorine their names were Lewis Kerber aged 59 and her mother Jean hell aged 85 in total 23 would be injured and three would die from the crash and resulting chemical relief the engineer of the Union Pacific train was later found and sent to hospital for treatment the total cost of Railway Rolling Stock and infrastructure damage was estimated to be around 5 7 million with an additional cost of an estimated $150,000 for chemical cleanup the cleanup would require 70 truckloads of soil to be removed from the crash site diesel contaminated soil was also scraped from the site and this was roughly a depth of 6 in once cleaned up and the Rolling Stock salvaged the line was reopened but a burning question as always is why did the crash happen well as always this is where our regular friends the NTSB come into play the investigation soon after the site was made safe to enter the NTSB investigators began trolling through the wrecked trains and conducted interviews with the BNSF crew and the surviving Union Pacific crew member a download was taken of the Union Pacific train and it would show the train was being operated way above the required speed on approach to an approach signal and ultimately the stop signal at the McDonald's sidings although the conductor was killed in the disaster he also was responsible for the safe operation of the train you see the engineer is the one that is operating the Train's controls however it is both the conductor and the engineer that observes the signal indications and if the engineer isn't following the signals correctly it's up to the conductor to stop the train it would seem the engineer albeit driving correctly at the start of the journey began to not follow the rules at the at gray Crossings where he failed to blow the Train's horn the conductor should have stepped in here but this doesn't answer why the Train's operation became sloppy as both crew members apparently had Fairly Good Records on the hole a little look into the Union Pacific Crews working schedule and rest times showed that fatigue could have been a major culprit both the conductor and the engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad train f to make effective use of their rest time that was available to them the engineer in his previous 12 hours only got a few hours rest and the conductor had been drinking the night before and did not get enough rest in that time likely the ca was something that is very dangerous to shift workers and if you're driving in a monotonous environment in the middle of the night it can be your worst nightmare hell this may have even happened to you without you even knowing it when driving on the motorway this is of course the horror of a micro sleep WebMD describes this as micro sleep refers to episodes of sleep lasting less than 30 seconds often you aren't aware of them you may have multiple episodes of micro sleep close together as you try and fail to stay awake this would explain the failure to blow the horn and obey the signal indications the driver said during the interview but usually When approaching McDonald's sidings with restrictive signals he would reduce his speed to 10 m hour to account for the reduced visibility around the Eastern end's tight curve the NTSB posited that the conductor was most likely asleep during the journey although against the rules it was known to be a common thing among train Crews this meant that when the driver had his micro sleep no one was conscious at the controls it was found that the engineer had clocked up around 60 hours of work in the previous week including working long and erratic shifts the limit for Railway workers at this time was 432 hours a month massive in contrast to the 100 hours maximum flight time that Pilots could undertake so people falling asleep is a risk that can happen at any time so how could have the disaster been prevented using infrastructure well this is where train control comes into play Union Pacific did have a plan for this in the 1990s and they had called it Precision Train control it was a type of moving block system in which a safe Zone was formed around a train the system wasn't rolled out by 2004 and Union Pacific would in install instead positive train control over its Network due in the 2010 it's likely that such a system would have prevented the disaster but I can't say much as our closest version of the train protection system in the UK was being installed around the same time which still hasn't fully rolled out to every signal even today in the aftermath of the disaster driver and conductor rest times were looked into by Union Pacific the company were also hit with a lawsuit resulting in $581,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency for the cost to clean up the 60 tons of chlorine gas sadly freight train crashes will continue to be an issue in the US which no doubt will be future plainly difficult videos now it's scale time I've got it down as a free and this is what I've got for my bingo card do you agree this is a plent production all videos on the channel Creative Commons attribution shite license PL difficult videos produced by me John in a currently very wet and windy corner of Southern London UK I have Instagram a second YouTube channel and Twitter or X whatever you want to call it so check them out for all my other odds and sods I also have music for sale on band camp which the link will be in the pinned comment I'd like to say a very thank you a very warm thank you to my patreon and YouTube members who help keep the lights on with their financial support and finally i' like to say the thank you to the rest of you who like to watch and listen to me talk every week and all we have to say is thank you for watching and Mr music play us out please [Music] [Music]