NTSB issues preliminary report on July 5 CPKC train derailment

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on the July 5 derailment of a Canadian Pacific Kansas City train near Bordulac, North Dakota.

The derailed equipment included 17 tank cars containing hazardous materials. A post-accident release of methanol and anhydrous ammonia from multiple tank cars and a subsequent pool fire surrounding the derailed cars. There were no initial reports of injuries, according to the NTSB report.

First responders initiated a voluntary evacuation of two homes for two days. CPKC estimated damages to be about $3.6 million. One engineer and one conductor made up the crew.

The train comprised one head-end locomotive, one rear distributed-power locomotive, 126 loaded rail cars and 25 empty rail cars. The derailed equipment included 12 covered hoppers of propylene (plastic) pellets. Of the 17 tank cars transporting hazardous materials, six were carrying methanol and 11 were carrying anhydrous ammonia. The derailed tank cars are reported to include DOT-111, DOT-112 and DOT-117 cars.

NTSB investigators will confirm tank-car types when they perform detailed damage assessments of all the tank cars involved in the accident, the report states.

The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on detailed tank-car damage assessments, review of maintenance and inspection records, additional infrastructure examinations and further examination of the onboard image recorders and post-accident unmanned aircraft system videos.