BNSF Railway train derails and catches fire in Illinois

A BNSF Railway train with 103 cars carrying crude oil has derailed outside Galena, Illinois, and caught fire. The Federal Railroad Administration said Thursday afternoon that eight cars went off the track, six rolled over, and two were on fire. Residents within a 1-mile radius of the accident, which involves six homes, are being evacuated.

Crude-by-rail accidents have a high potential for death and injuries. A 2013 crash in Quebec killed 47 people. Last month a fireball was triggered in West Virginia when a CSX Corp. train carrying crude oil derailed. Two days prior to the CSX accident a Canadian National Railway Co. train derailed in Dubuque, Iowa, spilling ethanol fuel into the water and setting three cars on fire.

The mainline tracks near Galena are shut down and will not be reopened until inspected. Dark smoke was seen for miles. The train had 105 loaded cars. The major rail line near the Mississippi River handles as many as 50 oil trains per week. The spill occurred far enough from the Mississippi River to pose no threat to the waterway, according to Galena City Administrator Mark Moran.

As new pipelines are unable to keep up with petroleum production, North American oil producers are increasingly relying on rail transport. Typical rail cars carry 700 barrels of oil, and the number of oil carloads rose more than 40-fold between 209 and 2013, according to the Association of American Railroads.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman, the agency is not investigating the derailment.

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