Derailment in Tewksbury 04-08-2016

News video here: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/04/08/t ... erailment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OMG, THREE TANKERS CONTAINING CO2!!! THAT AREN'T LEAKING!!! Good thing they had full hazmat response, otherwise there would be global warming. No explanation why the cars derailed, how fast they were going, what condition the tracks were in, etc. Good job CBS-owned station.

Article looked fine to me for a quicK piece. Nothing knee jerk.

A few more details this morning from the Sentinel-Enterprise,,

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ne ... in-derails" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BandA wrote:OMG, THREE TANKERS CONTAINING CO2!!! THAT AREN'T LEAKING!!! Good thing they had full hazmat response, otherwise there would be global warming. No explanation why the cars derailed, how fast they were going, what condition the tracks were in, etc. Good job CBS-owned station.

CO2 is a simple asphyxiant. In the volumes present it does present a hazard but certainly not in the same way that a "Toxic Inhalation Hazard" (TIH) cargo would. The Guide is #120 in the USDOT Emergency Response Guidebook. That level of response is standard procedure regardless of whether or not the cargo is determined to be leaking (or in the case of heat ... just venting).

Yeah, I thought the second linked article was better, for example mentioning that it was a freight-only line. The hazmat response seems to be mostly CYA, although as mentioned above it is a local asphyxiation hazard, mostly to the workers doing the re-railing.