Broken bolt caused Oregon train derailment, railroad says

Associated Press

At least one broken bolt holding the rail in place caused the fiery derailment of a Union Pacific train moving volatile crude oil through the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon-Washington border, railroad officials say.

Union Pacific spokesman Justin Jacobs said Saturday that the company filed a report Friday with the Federal Railroad Administration citing one or more broken bolts as the cause of the June 3 derailment.

“We are unaware of any time when this has happened in the past,” Jacobs said. “This is an unusual failure.”

He said there’s no evidence of malevolent activity by anyone to damage the tracks.

The type of bolt that broke is unique in that it’s used only on curved sections of track, Jacobs said. He noted the train was going 26 mph in a 30 mph zone, so it’s not clear why the bolt failed. As a result, he said, the company is now in the process of checking similar bolts in curved sections of its 32,000 miles of track in 23 states.

No one was injured in the derailment, but the tiny town of Mosier, Ore., was evacuated after four cars caught fire. Of the 96 cars all loaded with crude oil, more than a dozen derailed.

Mosier Fire Chief Jim Appleton, who fought the blaze after the derailment, said he appreciated Union Pacific’s maintenance and safety procedures but the risk of one broken bolt resulting in such a disaster or potentially worse disasters means regulators should not allow shipments of crude oil to travel by train through the area.

“We have to accept that there are going to be failures in the rail system,” he said. “But we have to recognize that there are some risks that are unacceptable.”

Officials have said 42,000 gallons of crude oil were released in the derailment of the unit crude oil train, called such because it hauled only one type of commodity.

About 10,000 gallons were recovered in wastewater systems, while the rest was burned off, captured by booms or absorbed into soil.