Derailment in Willimantic, CT

[MNCRR9000]

A freight train has derailed in Willimantic Connecticut. It appears that the train was operated by the New England Central Railroad but on Providence and Worcester trackage.

Freight train derails in Willimantic

Updated: Tuesday, 09 Nov 2010, 11:26 AM EST
Published : Tuesday, 09 Nov 2010, 10:01 AM EST

Willimantic, Conn. (WTNH) - A freight train has derailed in the area of Main Street in Willimantic.

It happened around 9:30am. DEP tell News 8 that four cars carrying ethanol derailed, though no leaks have been reported.

The track is owned by Providence and Worcester Railroad Company . The company that was hauling the cars is New England Central Railroad. The cars are rented by various companies to transport their freight.

The DEP says they are working with railroad officials to determine if the cars need to be off-loaded to get them back on the track or if they can do it with their cargo intact. A crew is being assembled in New York to get the cars uprighted. They should be uprighted by this evening.

As a precaution, no one is being allowed within 500 feet of the derailment.

No one was injured.

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/windham_ct ... in-derails

From looking at CTFire-ems.com it appears as if 2 railcars are on their side and 3 leaning all carrying Ethanol.

[MNCRR9000]

Update from the Norwich Bulletin Newspaper.

Willimantic, Conn. —

Officials today will continue monitoring cleanup efforts after six southbound tankers, each carrying as much as 30,000 gallons of ethanol, derailed Tuesday in a railroad yard off Main Street in Willimantic, the third such derailment in Eastern Connecticut this year.

Emergency crews responded to the tracks off Riverside Drive shortly after 9 a.m. to find two tankers on their sides and four others upright but off the tracks, Willimantic firefighter Peter Bruscato said. No injuries were reported.

“There was no leaking or imminent danger to the public,” Bruscato said.

Riverside Drive runs parallel to Main Street and abuts downtown businesses where most bystanders said they hadn’t even known the accident occurred.

While the flammable payload caused initial concern, state Department of Environmental Protection Emergency Response Director Jeff Chandler said “this is the best-case scenario,” referring to the fact the tankers were readily accessible and the tanks were not leaking.


Similar derailments occurred in wooded areas of Windham and Lisbon earlier this year. In the Windham incident, in March off Plains Road, three cars rolled down an embankment and made the task of reaching the site more difficult.

In Tuesday’s accident, ethanol is expected to be off-loaded from the two toppled cars and transferred to empty cars on adjacent tracks, said Matthew Vertefeuille, a Windham official handling public information.

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/carousel ... ll-avoided

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Lot of pictures of the scene in the Hartford Courant.

http://www.courant.com/community/windha ... otogallery

Tore up the tracks pretty good when it went down.

[MNCRR9000]

Lot of pictures of the scene in the Hartford Courant.

http://www.courant.com/community/windha ... otogallery

Tore up the tracks pretty good when it went down.

Thanks for the link to the pictures. Those tracks really did get torn up.