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Canadian Pacific Railway
train 54 derailed at the Mavis Road level crossing when
a journal box on a tank car, lacking lubrication,
failed. In trainmen's vernacular, the overheated journal
box became a "hot box". Twenty-three other cars followed
the tanker, causing a deafening crash and squeal of
metal as cars collided at the crossing. On impact, some
of the propane cars burst into flames. That was at 11:53
p.m. Saturday, November 10, 1979.
As the derailed train's tank
cars piled up on each other, tankers containing styrene
and toluene were punctured, spilling their chemicals on
to track beds. Flammable liquids and vapors ignited,
causing a massive explosion of a tank car. The flames
rose to a height of 1,500 meters and could be seen over
100 kilometers away. The fire was fed by five dangerous
ingredients - 11 tank cars of propane, four with caustic
soda, three with styrene, three with toluene, and one
with chlorine. The deadly chlorine gas posed an
immediate hazard to the local population and the
emergency workers, but the burning propane and the
possibility of more explosions meant that little could
be done to stop the leak other than evacuating a large
portion of the City.
On Tuesday, the 13th
of November, the propane fire finally died and the
Chlorine tanker was patched; but, it wasn’t until the
following Monday, the 19th, that the chlorine
was finally removed from the site and pumped out of the
damaged tanker. On the 21st, the last piece
of wreckage was removed.
Despite the ‘miracle’ that
no one was killed or seriously injured, the horrendous
cost of the evacuation of a major Canadian city led
directly to the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act
and the Regulations that enforce it. Today, the
standards to which tank cars are built and maintained,
the position of chemical tankers in a train consist, and
the Emergency Response Assistance Plans for the
dangerous goods are regulated by the TDG Act. It is
unlikely that another ‘Mississauga’ accident could occur
again.
Links:
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Mississauga Train Derailment You Tube Video
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Mississauga Website
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