Union Pacific Longview Jct. South Derailment
(Information on this site is considered to be accurate at the time of posting, but is subject to change as new information becomes available.)


Number 1 and 2 UP locomotives following derailment.
Taken by: Ron Holcomb, Ecology
Date:11/16/03

Summary Information 

Date of Incident:  
7:42 a.m. Saturday, November 15, 2003

Location:  
Longview Junction – South

Product/Quantity:  
According to UP officials, approximately 3,000 gallons of diesel was on-board the three locomotives and most spilled at the time of the incident.  Another 1,200 gallons of lubricating oil was also on-board. 

Cause:  
Under Investigation.

 

News Items

Photographs

Maps/Drawings

  

Update - December 10, 2003

Heavy equipment crews worked quickly to clear the derailed cars and debris from the two mainline tracks. The three derailed UP locomotives were recovered over a three day period a week following the collision.

The interceptor trench, which collected diesel and lube oil on the ground water was attended 24-hours a day with a vacuum truck initially for several days and then periodically until no more recoverable oil could be collected. Extensive amounts of contaminated soil were removed from the site in early December and a series of monitoring wells were installed in the shallow ground water. Prompt and thorough cleanup response efforts that were well coordinated with train recovery operations kept pollution from impacting an adjacent wetlands area.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF), which is taking the lead on the cleanup effort, is currently developing a long-term cleanup plan for the site.

Background Information - 

At 7:42 a.m. on November 15, 2003 a north-bound Union Pacific (UP) freight train collided with a south-bound Burlington Northern – Santa Fe (BNSF) freight train at the Longview Jct. – South. The site of the incident was almost the exact same spot as a fatal train crash that happened almost exactly 10 years ago. Five UP and BNSF rail crewman were killed in the crash on November 11, 1993.

Two crewmen were injured in the recent collision that derailed three UP locomotives and more than 20 freight cars. Three of eighteen BNSF freight cars carrying non-hazardous contaminated sediments en-route to an eastern Washington landfill were also damaged and spilled an estimated 30 to 50 cubic yards of the waste. The fuel tanks on the three locomotives were damaged and spilled diesel fuel into the rail bed and railroad embankment. In addition some of the estimated 1,200 gallons of lubricating oil from each locomotive spilled. A wetland area is just to the east of the derailed locomotives.

Cleanup Efforts - 

Cleanup contractors hired by BNSF dug an interceptor trench between the derailed locomotives and the wetland area. Diesel fuel and lubricating oil began flowing into the trench and is being collected by vacuum trucks. The fuel will continue to be recovered from the trench by vacuum trucks until no further fuel can be recovered by this method. No fuel has been detected in wetland or on the west side of the tracks.