Weekend ethanol-carrying train crash in Pennsylvania cleaned up
Things seem to have gotten back to normal in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, where a train jumped the rails on Friday and then burned for three days. The train was made up of 86 tanker cars, and nine of them leaked ethanol, which then burned. About 50 people who live near the accident site were evacuated, but no one was injured. The unburned ethanol was pumped from the leaning tankers and the tracks should have been cleared for other traffic as of yesterday, according to the AP.
The cause of the accident seems to have been an emergency brake that triggered when a pneumatic brake line was somehow severed. Even with the ethanol spill, the state Department of Environmental Protection said they didn't expect any problems with any water supplies. I wonder if the national ethanol pipeline idea will get a boost because of this.
Related:
[Source: Daniel Lovering/Associated Press]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Howard Lee Harkness 12:51PM (10/25/2006)
Good thing the train wasn't carrying compressed hydrogen gas. Otherwise, the town of New Brighton, PA might not even be there anymore. Instantaneously releasing all of the energy in a large tank of a liquid fuel (gasoline, diesel, and yes, ethanol) is difficult to do -- fortunately. Releasing of all the energy in a tank of hydrogen instantaneously is trivial.
So, while using ethanol as an engine fuel isn't very smart, at least it isn't insanely stupid like hydrogen.
Reply