"It's bad, but it could have been a whole lot worse:" Railroad Commissioner reacts to train collision in Slinger
SLINGER (WITI) -- A collision of two trains and a resulting diesel fuel spill in Slinger are being investigated, and cleaned up. Dozens of residents evacuated following the collision and derailment of three engines and 10 train cars on Sunday night, July 20th have been allowed to return to their homes — as crews work to clean up the 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled. This is at least the 15th train accident in Wisconsin this year -- and it's the second derailment for Wisconsin & Southern Railroad.
Slinger Fire Chief Rick Hanke says three engines and 10 railcars from two trains derailed on Sunday night, July 20th, after two trains collided. Two people on the trains suffered non life-threatening injuries. They were treated and released.
Canadian National Railway Co. spokesman Patrick Waldron said Monday three southbound Canadian National locomotives (engines) and three cars carrying frack sand derailed and struck cars from Wisconsin & Southern that were carrying steel, lumber and plastic pellets. Hanke says some of the lumber spilled.
When it comes to accidents involving freight trains, it's rare for one train to actually crash into another, so state Railroad Commissioner Jeff Plale says, all things considered: "It's bad, but it could have been a whole lot worse."
Despite Sunday's rather spectacular collision, Plale says both Canadian National Railway and Wisconsin & Southern Railroad have reasonable safety records.
"Neither railroad company has a record of being reckless. They`re both good companies," Plale said.
Crash data published by the Federal Railroad Administration shows that overall, train derailments and collisions are on the decline both across the country and in Wisconsin -- where there were just 15 train accidents last year. That's the fewest in the past 15 years.
"Our goal is to get it to zero. We don`t want any rail accidents in this state," Plale said.
Federal data shows a possible spike in crashes again this year. After just 15 accidents through all of 2013, the FRA has logged 14 accidents in Wisconsin in the first four months of 2014 -- and that's not counting Sunday night's accident -- a rare train vs. train collision.
There have been 19 such train collisions in the state since 2000 -- but Sunday night's was the first since Plale became Railroad Commissioner.
"It doesn`t happen very often at all. And thank God," Plale said.
Wisconsin & Southern Railroad operates on 700 miles of track throughout southern Wisconsin.
Canadian National has more than 20,000 miles of track throughout North America.
A spokesman for Canadian National says the kind of crash we saw in Slinger is "very rare," and he said their two-man crew had the signal to pass through the intersection when the collision occurred.
A call to Wisconsin & Southern late Monday afternoon wasn't immediately returned.
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