SEATTLE — Quick Facts:
- No one hurt
- Tanks were full of crude oil
- No oil leaked in derailment
- Train was heading to Anacortes
- Each tank can carry an average of 700 barrels of crude oil
There were 100 tankers full of oil passing through Seattle Thursday morning on their way to a refinery at Anacortes.
Three of them slipped off the tracks under the Magnolia Bridge.
“We live on top of Queen Anne and that’s just way too close, said Cerise Koch.
The train was only going 5 mph, and the newer reinforced tanker cars did not rupture.
Koch was still alarmed after seeing images of previous oil train disasters, including an explosion and fire that killed 47 people last year in Quebec, Canada.
See photos of the train here and statistics of how often a train derails in King County here.
She looked at the Magnolia Bridge and said, “I mean this is a major thoroughfare, everybody takes this way and it could have crippled everything.”
The BNSF railroad doesn't know why the derailment happened on track that was recently replaced.
Spokesman Gus Melonas said this was the first oil train derailment in Washington since his railroad started running longer trains from the North Dakota oil fields two years ago
“This is a freak situation,” said Melonas.
Melonas said the railroad's emergency response team was there in five minutes.
The oil was fully contained in newly designed tankers with reinforced steel.
“The cars functioned as designed, there was no release of product, there’s no environmental threat,” said Melonas.
He expected it would take until late Thursday or early Friday to clear the tracks.
The derailment did not affect other passenger or freight service.
Washington state has no comprehensive plan if oil trains crash. Read Kevin McCarty's previous investigation here.
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