About 10:25 p.m., on February 22, 1978, 23 cars of a Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company train derailed at a facing point switch in Waverly, Tennessee. At 2:53 p.m., on February 24, 1978, a derailed tank car containing liquefied petroleum gas ruptured, releasing the product which ignited with an explosive force. As a result, 16 persons died and 43 were injured; property damage was estimated at $1,800,000. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the loss of life and substantial property damage was the release and ignition of liquefied petroleum gas from a tank car rupture. The rupture resulted from stress propagation of a crack which may have developed during movement of the car for transfer of product or from increased pressure within the tank. The original crack was caused by mechanical damage during a derailment, which resulted from a broken high-carbon wheel on the 17th car which had overheated.
Railroad Accident Report - Derailment of Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company's Train No. 584 and Subsequent Rupture of Tank Car Containing Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Waverly, Tennessee, February 22, 1978
1979
30 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Transportation Safety , Railroad Transportation , Rail transportation , Cargo transportation , Accident investigations , Freight cars , Tank cars , Liquefied natural gas , Ignition , Explosions , Crack propagation , Overpressure , Casualties , Tennessee , Railroad accidents , Railroad derailments , Waiverly(Tennessee)