Major Hazmat Rail Accidents

Clara City, Minn., October 2007: An estimated 89 tons of hydrochloric acid spilled in a BNSF Railway two-train derailment, prompting the evacuation of about 400 people. View article

Painesville, Ohio, October 2007: More than 65,000 gallons of ethanol, butane and other hazardous chemicals spilled from five ruptured tank cars when a train carrying derailed. The resulting fire took several days to burn out. About 1,400 were people evacuated. View article

New Brighton, Pa., October 2006: Twenty tank cars released more than 300,000 gallons of ethanol when an 80-car ethanol unit train derailed on a bridge over the Beaver River, causing an explosion and enormous fireball. The fire burned for days and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. View article

Texarkana, Ark., October 2005: A Union Pacific train collided with a parked train, rupturing a propylene tank. Escaping fumes ignited, killing a woman in her home. View article

Wabamun, Alberta, August 2005: Forty-three railcars - nearly all tankers - derailed between Edmonton and Vancouver, sending nearly 700,000 liters of fuel oil into Wabamun Lake. Local residents we evacuated because at least one of the derailed tank cars carried toluene. One ruptured tank was later revealed to contain pole oil, a carcinogen use to treat utility poles. View article

San Bernardino, Calif., April 2005: A Union Pacific train carrying chlorine and other HAZMATs derailed. An estimated 365 people evacuated. View article

Graniteville, S.C., January 2005: At 41 mph, a Norfolk Southern train rammed a parked train, rupturing a tank car that released 11,500 pounds of chlorine and a cloud of chlorine gas that hung over the city. Nine people died, 250 were injured and more than 5,400 residents were evacuated in the nation’s deadliest spill from a train crash since 1978. Official clean-up efforts focused on the chlorine gas, even though the collision also spilled hazardous chemicals cresol and sodium hydroxide. View article

Macdona, Texas, June 2004: A Union Pacific train traveling 45 mph collided with another train, breaking open a chlorine tanker. The fumes killed a train crewman and two residents. View National Transportation Safety Board analysis

Tamaroa, Ill., February 2003: A Canadian National freight train traveling about 40-mph derailed, rupturing seven tank cars that spilled more than 30,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid, 57,000 gallons of methanol and 7,000 gallons of vinyl chloride. A 3-mile radius was evacuated, including the entire village of Tamaroa. View National Transportation Safety Board analysis

Minot, N.D., January 2002: A Canadian Pacific train derailed. Tankers carrying anhydrous ammonia ruptured or exploded, creating a gas cloud that killed one man and injured more than 1,400. More

Baltimore, July 2001: Sixty rail cars carrying chemicals derailed in a Baltimore tunnel, causing a fire that burned for six days. An estimated 50,000 people were evacuated. About 3,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled and all 30,000 gallons of tripropylene burned. View National Transportation Safety Board analysis

Alberton, Mont., April 1996: A Montana Rail Link train derailed, rupturing tankers carrying chlorine and other hazardous chemicals. One person died and hundreds were injured. More

Superior, Wis., June 1992: Three tank cars plunged off a trestle and into the Nemadji River. One tanker ruptured, releasing 21,000 gallons of benzene into the river, which flows into Lake Superior. A toxic cloud formed over Superior and Duluth, Minn., prompting the evacuation of 40,000 area residents. Many suffered long-term health problems. 

Dunsmuir, Calif., July 1991: A Southern Pacific train derailed near Dunsmuir in Northern California, dumping 19,000 gallons of herbicide into the Sacramento River. The spill sickened people in the town and killed fish, plants and animals in and along a 40-mile stretch of river.

Mississauga, Ontario, November 1979: Twenty-four cars in a Canadian Pacific train derailed near the Toronto suburb, rupturing tankers filled with chlorine, styrene and toluene and setting fire to tankers filled with propane. Three propane tankers erupted in a series of three explosions visible more than 60 miles away. At least 218,000 people were evacuated, some for as long as a week.

Waverly, Tenn., February 1978: Two days after a Louisville and Nashville train derailed, two cars carrying liquefied petroleum gas exploded, killing six people immediately. Ten more died from injuries in the following days. At least 14 buildings were destroyed.

Kingman, Texas, July 1973: A fire broke out as propane was being transferred from a railroad car to a storage tank, and a catastrophic boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion killed 11 firefighters.