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This is just right down the road from me.
Wellington, Kan. —
A train carrying at least one railcar of anhydrous ammonia is stalled on a bridge near the Corbin Water Shed around 130th Street South and Sumner Road southwest of Wellington.
Union Pacific Spokesperson Tom Lange said the company is in the process now of towing the cars away from the collapsing bridge.
One locomotive is pulling the majority of the railcars north, away from the bridge while another is pulling the rest of the cars south over the gap in the bridge.
"All the cars are secure, there's no issues with any hazmat..." Lange said. "We're not going to know the cause and what it may take to fix it for awhile because we're still investigating."
The train crew saw a problem with the bridge as they were traveling southbound and stopped the train.
"Our crew apparently saw a bow in a bridge so they stopped the train and got off the train," Lange said via phone. "There's no injuries, no hazardous material release..." The tanker of anhydrous ammonia was a distance away from the bridge. Lange says the railcar containing the anhydrous ammonia was always secure.
Lange said the government mandates railroads to haul such potentially dangerous chemicals.
"It's a federal law," he said. "Railroads are the safest mode of transportation for most chemicals." Lange also speculated that recent weather in the area might have contributed to the bridge failure.
"According to our weather data, there's been roughly eight and a half inches of rain in the last few days, so we think that might have had an impact on the bridge," Lange said. "But we don't know that for certain at this point."
Sumner County Sheriff's Department and Union Pacific Railroad officials are on scene.
A train carrying at least one railcar of anhydrous ammonia is stalled on a bridge near the Corbin Water Shed around 130th Street South and Sumner Road southwest of Wellington.
Union Pacific Spokesperson Tom Lange said the company is in the process now of towing the cars away from the collapsing bridge.
One locomotive is pulling the majority of the railcars north, away from the bridge while another is pulling the rest of the cars south over the gap in the bridge.
"All the cars are secure, there's no issues with any hazmat..." Lange said. "We're not going to know the cause and what it may take to fix it for awhile because we're still investigating."
The train crew saw a problem with the bridge as they were traveling southbound and stopped the train.
"Our crew apparently saw a bow in a bridge so they stopped the train and got off the train," Lange said via phone. "There's no injuries, no hazardous material release..." The tanker of anhydrous ammonia was a distance away from the bridge. Lange says the railcar containing the anhydrous ammonia was always secure.
Lange said the government mandates railroads to haul such potentially dangerous chemicals.
"It's a federal law," he said. "Railroads are the safest mode of transportation for most chemicals." Lange also speculated that recent weather in the area might have contributed to the bridge failure.
"According to our weather data, there's been roughly eight and a half inches of rain in the last few days, so we think that might have had an impact on the bridge," Lange said. "But we don't know that for certain at this point."
Sumner County Sheriff's Department and Union Pacific Railroad officials are on scene.