10th anniversary Saturday of the derailment of train M33371 in Tamaroa; NTSB investigation blamed poor rail weld made 17 days earlier for derailment

Ten years later, Tamaroa harbors strong memories of the derailment of Canadian National chemical train M33371 on Feb. 9, 2003.

"We just don't sit near the trains anymore," said Ray George, owner of Ray' Auto Body.

Most of the settlement money--hundreds for some and enough for a used car or down payment on college for others--has already been spent.

At approximately 9:04 a.m. on Feb. 9, 2003, a Canadian National Railway/Illinois Central Railroad Company (CNIC) northbound Memphis to Chicago chemical train derailed in Tamaroa and George, a part-time Perry County deputy, was one of the first responders. "You have no idea how shocking it was to step out my door and see a big fire rolling across (the middle of Tamaroa)."

This Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of the worst train derailment in Perry County history.

Residents of the town of 850 five miles north of Du Quoin became refugees for between three and 10 days.

The derailment caused delays for Amtrak trains. Some trains were detoured and passengers were bused along the route, popular with students from SIU- Carbondale.

The National Transportation and Safety Board two years later would blame a bad rail weld made 17 days earlier for the derailment. Mayor Bill Place knew something didn't sound right as the trains passed through town. He even called the railroad.

Kirk Pestka of Pestka's Home Grocery remembers, "I wasn't even in town, but everybody remembered something wasn't right."

Hundreds of residents would reject an early offer of a $200 settlement at a table set up days later in the Tamaroa Community Center.

The Bryant Law Firm of Paducah galvanized the community in a class action suit lasting for six years that ultimately paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in a sealed settlement which came only after the Illinois Supreme Court rejected the railroad's appeal to disjoin the class action. The railroad folded just as the case was about to go to trial.

Attorney Joe Leberman, which later left the law firm to go out on his own, contributed a great deal to putting the case together.

In an interview this week, attorney Mark Bryant asked rhetorically, "Has it been that long?" and added, "The people of Tamaroa are some of the finest people I have ever met. I think everyone ended up with a very good settlement."

"I think we were closed for eight days and they had no problem with paying us," remembers George.

Later, there were even testimonials by townspeople filmed in front the community center for how the Bryant Law Firm had gone to bat for them. And, it did. There were a handful of private lawsuits--even one for wrongful death--filed by a woman whose husband died shortly after the derailment. Except for the class action lawsuit, most of the actions went nowhere.

The Du Quoin American Legion became a refugee camp for several days. Legion members and the Red Cross served up hundreds of meals. Du Quoin and Perry County emergency services personnel working alongside Perry County deputies, the Illinois State Police and local law enforcement entered homes to get prescription medicines for displaced residents. Family pets were fed and watered by emergency personnel.

The way Du Quoin and Perry County ESDA handled the derailment commanded the attention of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency which on several occasions called it "a local agency well ahead of its time." Director Chuck Genesio and operations chief David Searby on countless occasions were asked to be guest speakers and lead training sessions. Genesio went on to serve for a year as president of the Illinois Emergency Management Association. He just completed that term this past year.

On Monday, Genesio reflected on the disaster: "It was a very big learning experience. It was a lead-in to our command training on issues of Hazmat (hazardous materials). Our relationship with the Du Quoin Fire Department became second to none," he said. Tamaroa firefighters worked alongside ESDA, Illinois IEMA, police, railroad personnel and Hulcher Track Services of Sauget, Ill. to effect the safe cleanup.

An effective cleanup and the lessons learned warranted then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich coming to Tamaroa to thank everyone for what they had done. All of the state's resources were put at the disposal of the men and women who brought closure to days of a painstaking mission to get it right.

Everyone was reimbursed for their expenses. Du Quoin Emergency Services wound up with a new mobile command center that has been sent to disaster scenes all over the midwest since the derailment.

The Illinois Department of Public Health staff were notified about 10 a.m. that 21 cars of a CNIC northbound train derailed in Tamaroa. Each tanker contained 24,000 pounds of chemicals. Several of the derailed cars contained hydrochloric acid, vinyl chloride, methanol, or formaldehyde. The derailment damaged some of the cars, causing chemicals to be released into the surrounding environment. Emergency responders were informed of the potential health effects of these chemicals.

Potential acute health effects included the following:

• hydrochloric acid which could cause "eyes, skin, and respiratory system irritation."

• vinyl chloride which can cause "eyes, mucous membrane, and respiratory system irritation; breathing high levels can cause dizziness, sleepiness, and a tingling sensation."

• methanol which can cause "blurred vision, headaches, dizziness, and nausea."

• formaldehyde which can cause "eyes, skin, and respiratory system irritation."

Some of the damaged rail cars caught fire, creating an explosion hazard. Approximately 1,000 Tamaroa-area residents living within a 3-mile radius of the derailment were evacuated.

The CNIC railway runs north and south through the center of the community between Chestnut and Oak Street. The train derailed on a stretch of line between East 1st South Street and East 3rd South Street. Emergency response crews secured the area and began containing the release of chemicals. Emergency response activities included the following:

Establishment of a secured zone around the derailment;

Establishment of an air monitoring network around the site and town to include on-site and perimeter stations to monitor vapors resulting from the derailment;

Collection and transfer of leaking chemicals from derailed tank cars into stable containers away from the derailment site;

Clean-up and removal of rail cars.

By approximately 5 p.m. on Feb. 9, site perimeter and on-site air monitoring stations were recording ambient air measurements for vinyl chloride and the other chemicals spilled during the derailment. The levels were closely monitored for on-site worker protection. On-site workers also were monitored for vinyl chloride exposure by testing urine samples following completion of their shift.

Most of the chemicals were contained near the railroad tracks in the general area of the train derailment. Hydrochloric acid reportedly entered an east-west drainage ditch and flowed off the site. Approximately 2,000 feet of soil contaminated with hydrochloric acid was excavated from the drainage ditch. Surface water from affected ditches also was removed and held in storage containers for proper disposal. Areas of standing water created from significant rainfall were monitored to ensure levels of chemicals discharging from the site were below Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) criteria. Illinois EPA monitored all emergency clean-up activities.

On Feb. 11, at 1 p.m., residents outside a one-mile evacuation zone were allowed to return to their homes. Residents who lived within the one-mile evacuation zone were not allowed to return to their homes until after clean-up crews stabilized a leaking vinyl chloride tanker. The one-mile zone included all the Tamaroa residents within the city limits. Air monitoring identified measurable vinyl chloride levels near the leaking tank, but perimeter monitoring did not identify any vinyl chloride vapors in populated areas.

By 6 p.m. on Feb. 14, conditions at the derailment site were stabilized and the one-mile evacuation zone was rescinded. By March 29, 2003, the emergency clean-up was completed.

Conclusions

The NTSB said that "a broken rail, due to inappropriate bond wire welds on the rail in an area of known soft ballast conditions, was the probable cause of the derailment of a Canadian National Railway freight train." The report says that the welding procedure that Canadian National workers used created untempered martensite--a brittle structure present in steel--that caused the rail to be more likely to crack. Placement of the failed bond wire welds was authorized by a Canadian National signals supervisor, but the report says that the placement was "not in accordance with the company's exothermic bond wire welding policy."

The rails bouncing in a muddy rail bed contributed to the fatigue in the steel.