Several factors contributed to the March 10, 2017, derailment of a Union Pacific Railroad ethanol train, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report.
These factors included inadequate federal oversight, inadequate track maintenance and inspection, and a broken rail.
The accident near Graettinger, Iowa, destroyed a 152-foot railroad bridge and 400 feet of railroad track, causing an estimated $4 million in damage. There were no injuries, but three homes were evacuated, and a fire raged for more than 36 hours.
Twenty of the train’s 98 loaded tank cars derailed, and 14 of the cars released approximately 322,000 gallons of ethanol. The NTSB found four tank cars had thermal damage and 10 were breached from mechanical damage.
The train was using U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Specification 111 tank rail tank cars. Had the train been using DOT-117 cars, the severity of the accident would have mitigated, or the release of ethanol would have been prevented, the NTSB concluded.
Union Pacific Railroad did not properly maintain the region of rail that includes the accident location, the NTSB said. Federal Railroad Administration inspectors also did not report all defective crosstie conditions in the region or use all available enforcement options to achieve Union Pacific compliance.