All Clear Sounded Saturday Morning
By Doug La Rocque
By 1 am Saturday morning, January 12, the last of the three propane laden tank cars that derailed Wednesday evening, had been removed without incident, and the remainder of the area residents evacuated, were allowed home. The blessing here is that there were no leaks, no fire and no injuries associated with either the derailment or the cleanup. At a press conference on Saturday at the North Hoosick Fire House, Rensselaer County Director of Operations Rich Crist, called the entire response from federal on down to local agencies, “comprehensive and coordinated.” Besides the first responders, he also praised NYS Emergency Management officials and Federal Railway authorities, who he said, were all on scene within an hour of the mishap.
The City of Troy’s Hazardous Materials Unit responded as well with their more sophisticated leak detection equipment, which verified what first responders reported, there were no leaks from any of the three propane tanks, each of which was loaded with 32,000 pounds of propane. Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin joined emergency services officials inspecting the site on Thursday morning. He said afterward, “this is an accident that could have been much worse, and we were fortunate things turned out as they did.” Two other cars also derailed, both were grain vehicles, but were empty.
What caused the five cars to come off the tracks is pure speculation at this point, with the investigation now in the hands of the Federal Railway Authority (FRA). That investigation may take months to conclude.
The derailment occurred at the Hoosick Junction, near the switch between the spur line and the main railway. The age of the switch and the spur line that runs into Hoosick Falls was mentioned by several sources, although it is not conclusive that was the cause.
In November of last year, New York State announced $27.1 million in rail and port improvements projects across the state, including $2.7 million to reconfigure and expand tracks at the Hoosick Junction interchange. The grant goes to Pan Am Southern, the owner of the tracks. The rail cars involved are owned by Vermont Railways.
On Saturday, the two-grain cars remained on the scene, but train traffic was again running on the main line parallel to the spur. Pan Am Southern crews were also at work, replacing the section of the track that had been torn up by the derailment.