Derailed train cars ? at least one of which carried a flammable material ? closed a section of the U.S. 77 bypass in Arkansas City late Wednesday. Crews worked late into the night to clean up following the incident.
The closed section of the bypass was expected to open at any moment “if it hasn’t already,” Ark City Police Chief Sean Wallace said around 11:30 this morning. A crew was on scene to right the toppled cars and place them on a side track.
Around 9 p.m. Wednesday, 10 cars in a 110-car BNSF Railway train left the track as the train was pulling onto a side track in Ark City, Steve Forsberg, a spokesperson with BNSF, said this morning. Six of the cars, which were near the rear of the train, tipped over.
A cause of the derailment is still under investigation, but the track was expected to reopen by 8 p.m. Thursday night. The incident happened on a portion of track that passes under a bypass bridge in the southeast portion of town.
The 94th through 103rd cars were involved in the derailment.
Kansas Department of Transportation crews established road blocks at U.S. 77 and Madison as well at U.S. 77 and Summit to keep motorists from driving through the area. The Ark City Police Department and KDOT worked to control the scene.
Precautions to protect drivers were taken because at least one of the cars contained a flammable liquid and six others contained creosote, a petroleum solution that can be flammable. Creosote is added to railroad ties and helps wood last longer, Forsberg said.
Less than 50 gallons of creosote escaped one or two of the cars but it has been cleaned up. Flammable liquids at the scene were not considered to be a serious threat to what is mostly an industrial area of town, Wallace said. The highway was closed to protect motorists.
“We shut the bypass down because people would have been driving right over the top of the derailment,” he said. “We just wanted to be as careful as possible.”
Bob Frazee, emergency coordinator for the city of Ark City, said most of the concern involved one car that contained the most highly flammable liquid, a substance he did not identify by name. Creosote does not ignite as easily, he said.
The car that was of particular concern remained filled with a flammable liquid this morning but it was expected to be placed back on rails soon.
