BRADENTON, Fla. — Authorities in Manatee County have been keeping a close eye on seven train cars that derailed in Bradenton since Tuesday afternoon. Two of the cars were carrying propane tanks.
Crews with heavy equipment are still expected to come in to help turn those cars over. At the site Wednesday, several of them were starting the clean-up process and repairing the tracks.
Southern Manatee Fire & Rescue Chief Robert Bounds said the department and Seminole Gulf Railway will be consulting with AmeriGas on how to proceed with the overturned rail car carrying 30,000 gallons of liquid propane gas.
"They're not planning on off-loading the [propane] unless they have to, but we'll see what AmeriGas advises," Bounds said. "They're really the subject matter expert to deal with this sort of thing."
Chief Bounds says the process could take several more days, but rescue teams will be on-site when the railcar is righted.
"We will be on-site once they attempt to upright that tanker with a full complement of our hazmat and engines and lines on the ground, prepared to take action if necessary," Bounds added.
According to the Seminole Gulf Railway website, the company hauls much of the region's building materials, including liquid propane gas.
Mike Callanan is a rail safety expert and consultant who says railways are responsible for the majority of chemical transit.
"Anything that is not safe for a semi-truck on the road usually gets hauled by rail," Callanan said. "Obviously, that creates a dangerous condition for the communities they go through. You know, just look at Ohio."
Callanan says while minor derailments are fairly routine, derailments of this scale involving potentially dangerous chemicals are rare.
According to the Association of American Railroads, more than 2 million carloads of hazardous materials are transported on U.S. tracks each year, including many chemicals. It says more than 99.9% of all hazmat moved by rail reaches its destination without a release caused by a train accident.
Several neighbors who live or work nearby stopped by to see the scene of the Bradenton derailment for themselves on Wednesday. Many of them expressed concern over the potential danger the incident could pose to the environment.
"I can't believe the ripples in the tracks and they let a train go down there," Chris Barr of Bradenton said. "If that's how they were before this happened, I can understand why the train derailed. I can't believe they were that uninformed."
As crews worked, an official from the Federal Railway Administration was also on-site looking into why the cars of the southbound train derailed. Of the affected cars, five contained sheetrock while two tanks contained an estimated 30,000 gallons of propane.
Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Robert Bounds said another car containing propane did not tip over and that it could take several days to reposition the train cars and fix the tracks.
"I definitely have some concerns," Jeff Brewers, who also works nearby, said. "I would hope that they are going to repair something like that and be a little bit better in the future about keeping it in better repair."
"We hear the trains go by all the time and we get used to it but you don't think about something like that," Barr said. "It seems like some maintenance needs to be done and shoddy equipment and they need to get a better handle on it."
10 Tampa Bay reached out to officials at Seminole Gulf asking when the tracks were last serviced. A company spokesperson said they would provide the company's protocol to us as soon as possible.
Seminole Gulf Railway declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, but its Executive VP told 10 Tampa Bay it inspects and maintains the railroad on an ongoing basis
Meanwhile, Congressman Vern Buchanan and Manatee County Commission Chairman Kevin Van Ostenbridge will tour the site late Thursday morning on a damage assessment tour.