2 Train Derailments in 2 Days in Wisconsin; Ethanol, Crude Oil Spilled

November 10, 2015

A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying crude oil derailed on Nov. 9 prompting some evacuations in Wisconsin, the second day in a row a freight train derailed in the state.

The eastbound CP train derailed about 2 p.m. in Watertown, in the southeastern part of the state. The railroad said more than a dozen cars derailed, and some were leaking. Hundreds of gallons of crude oil spilled from one tanker.

No fires or injuries were reported. CP was sending teams to the site.

“CP takes this incident extremely seriously,” the railroad said in a news release. The company did not say how much oil spilled.

Federal investigators and hazardous material specialists are on their way to the scene, the Federal Railroad Administration said in a tweet.

Residents of about 35 homes were asked to evacuate around 4 p.m., said Donna Haugom, director of the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management.

On Saturday, a freight train derailed near Alma in western Wisconsin, spilling thousands of gallons of ethanol. BNSF Railway said crews continued Sunday to transfer ethanol from the derailed cars and get the cars back on the tracks.

The BNSF train derailed at 8:45 a.m. Saturday about two miles north of Alma, a town along the Mississippi River. Some of the 25 derailed cars were empty auto racks and tanker cars.

BNSF said railroad crews stopped the leaks from five tanker cars and placed containment booms along the shoreline. One tanker released an estimated 18,000 gallons of ethanol, and the other four released an estimated 5 to 500 gallons each.

No one was hurt.

Topics Energy Oil Gas Wisconsin

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