Train Derailment in Rockford, IL 6/19/09 Mulford Road

[NewYorkSkateboarding]

Only in Rockford...

[kaykay31112]

i remember dis bad times in rockford

[stewartx5]

The law enforcement officer observing the washed out tracks some twenty minutes earlier should have handled the situation better, treating it just like an obstruction on the roadway with flares as far as possible in both directions on the track to warn approaching trains. May not have prevented the accident (if the engineer ignored those flares), but may have as well (if engineer figured out the flares were a warning of something serious ahead).

[pacirr]

You can find a report of the investigation online. As usual, CN's lack of communication is the most to blame.The police notified the RR in plenty of time, but the info never made it to the train crew. The only thing the police could've done different would be to send a patrolman in each direction down the track to warn any oncoming train of the danger ahead.

[kmkalusa]

@pacirr ....thank you pacirr at least you did some reading and research on the incident before posting a comment...it was a tragic accident that no one could have forseen..being as i am a dispatcher in the area, everything was done that could possibly have been done at the time

[shicoe30]

this doesn't make sense. I've seen the video of the dashcam that clearly shows the washed out tracks. Nearly every rail crossing, especially one with functioning lights and gates has an emergency hotline posted on it. Not 911, but a hotline to the railroad itself, why no one called to report it is beyond me. Even if they didn't give specifics, just said, the tracks are washed out here, the railroad would've been able to contact the train.

[rockfordnews]

@shicoe30 I don't believe there was a number listed on this particular crossing. Either way, the first person to stop at this scene before it happened was a cop. It had already been called into 911 at that point. Why they did not stop traffic from approaching the crossing we will probably never know. It was literally an accident waiting to happen.

[ffjsb]

@rockfordnews Poor training of the police and dispatchers. They should know who owns which rail lines and the emergency contact numbers. All the class 1 railroads have 1-800 numbers, which are generally posted on every road crossing and control box on their lines. The police failed to do their jobs in this case.

[kmkalusa]

@ffjsb apparently you don't know what you are talking about...i just happen to be one of those "dispatchers" your trashing and i take offense to your statement!! if you think you can do better i invite you to become a police officer or dispatcher!!

[ffjsb]

@kmkalusa My response was to Rockfordnews' post, apparently he/she doesn't know what they are talking about. If they are the local news and they can't get the story right it's not my fault for coming to the conclusion that I did. BTW, I teach a railroad emergencies class.

[kmkalusa]

@ffjsb well maybe you should get all the facts before you go spouting off about something you no nothing off.....piece of advice---never believe everything you read, especialy when it comes from the press,they tended to glamourize or warp the issue at hand in order to sell papers

[ffjsb]

@kmkalusa I sure didn't see any facts put out by your organization, so we're left with nothing but what the media says to go by. BTW, the are ways to stop a train if you know how. But I won't put that info out to the general population.

[2005GLI]

i just watched another video that showed a police officer pulling upto a washout at this crossing 20 minutes before the train hit it. Did theengines derail?

[cobraman96]

Guess the one squad was out fishing when they got the call..lol

[stevekatkus]

this is just ridiculous the police even have a dashcam video reported by the local police department that was released by the NTSB

the police dept were well aware of dangerous issue with the washed out track. What ever happened with all our taxpayers money into nationwide "public safety radio interoperability"

[FlyersFan1972]

@stevekatkus Public safety has no reason for connection to private industry. The rail line itself is owned by CN, and the train running on it was a Canadian National train. It's private industry. That said, there still should have been SOME means of reaching that train - LEO dashboard video taken 20m earlier clearly showed the heavy rain had already undercut the rails. Somehow, someway, somebody should have been able to reach that train before it reached that point.

[dstow123]

Bring everything you got to the scene....even the boat....lol

[PULVIRENTI1981]

I can't even see where the train is...

[sweetkitcat2]

I just got off on this day 45 minute before this happened. I was gonna go this way i am glad i didn't

[EthanChrono]

I saw this after driving home from School.

[jenna9586]

OMG I remember this....

[MsDesignDiva]

crazy, this is like 2 blocks from where one of my good friends lives.

[Lacquer]

At the least the tracks were fixed in that area. Before they were terrible to drive over. Always felt like my suspension would give out!

[TrainoholicLeverage]

It took 17 hours to put out that fire, that was just madness, I hate than stuff like that happens it becomes a huge distraction, and people cant focus but just wath it burn... I hate it.

[aviomaster]

-- Is this the cause for Rock river fish kill .

[pokemonfreak2045]

i drove right past tht i live in rock ford

[gypsianna]

How awful. The pavement still bears scorch marks even now. God Bless the woman who was killed that day and may God bring peace & comfort to her family...

[laylayms]

we drove by there but we couldnt get to close

[MFFilms815]

Very interesting. Good post. Very good. The picture on the newspaper reminds me of Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.

[LetsMakeAScene100]

I know the guy that said "Stay with me Brandon..."

[jbjfan3262]

I think I know that person too

[kristianigroeling]

yeah, that guy is my brother daniel... and brandon is our little brother... who obviously never listens.

[novemberunderground]

I heard from a firefighter that a train car slid a rail deep into the ground, inches away from puncturing a major gas line that led to Texas. Wow, imagine the destruction if that had happened.

[ses6239]

The closest interstate pipeline on Mulford Road is about 1.1 miles south of the accident site. There probably is a natural gas line following the road that supplies homes and business in area though.

[HinataThePup]

I've been tempted to take a drive through there and see the condition.

[TheJoemayo]

Wow...

[Ravertwo]

the river isnt that far. and rip to all those who died.

[rawson05]

I drove through this train crossing just 30 minutes before the accident! 1 mile away, I heard the sound, then saw the orange fireball go hundreds of feet in the air. I was on the opposite, north side on the northern tracks shooting video from close range, then it got too dangerous, so everyone was evacuated! Got that excitement on video too! Check it out. Thanks for your video from the other side of the tracks.

[munztaowl]

A 42 yo woman died trying to escape from their car stopped near the tracks. 3 others survived with burns.

[raccoonz5]

how close to the river are they? I saw the fire truck with a boat? I mapped the road and I don't see an intersection by there

[dpaintballd]

they are pretty far they might have it on there from the floods earlier

[absolutebrightness]

it was at the intersection of sandy hollow and mulford i think. right by berg awning?

[jimmy116677]

lol i went to dairy queen and when we got there i salll tiny lil black smoke then ask we can out i sall a huge blazing ornage glow coming out of the sky and we got so close to seeing it

[PrinceSuperBen]

I still can't believe I didn't hear this! I live close enough that I could have heard the explosion.

[sweetkitcat2]

Ya me too. I would of been gauking.

[flytallerkin]

if that was a passenger train, my god would that be horrible

[ksaun95]

it wasnt, it was delivering ethonal to chicago

[flytallerkin]

I was saying IF that was a passenger train, that would be awful

[ButtChinLive]

nope,

it would be HORRIBLE!!

[Boss302fan]

Well, if it had been a passenger train this would not have happened. They don't carry trainloads of flammable liquids.

[Jaanfo]

Instead the passenger cars would have hit the washout, stopped short, fallen over, accordion folded, been crushed, and a couple hundred people would be dead rather then one.

[Boss302fan]

You're correct. My answer was too quick...what would not have happened would have been the hazmat spill itself.

But you are 100 percent correct otherwise. My bad for typing far too quickly.

[Jaanfo]

No problem, I was being unnecessarily harsh (I'm an Amtrak Conductor so I got a little jumpy)

Still though, the best train derailment is one that doesn't happen.

[ses6239]

Jaanfo - Not likely that many people would be dead, but quite possibly more than the 1 that was killed.

But the Canadian National Railroad Co. certainly is liable, seeing as how they had a 20 minute warning that the rail bed was damaged and they still allowed the train to pass through.

[vicdevil3]

I knew the lady that die on this accident, her and her family were on the van that was burn.they used to live upstairs of me so i feel sorry for their family ... all my prays for them

[K9LLL]

Does anyone know the voice of the man in the video it sounds like a man i know Mr. Leonard. If anyone knows please let me know

[rockfordnews]

Nope... That's not the name of the man in the video. Sorry.

[bpreston17]

Corner say the lady that was killed died of thermal injuries. My prayers are with her family.

[jazzbariman5]

Before the speculation gets too out of hand, please wait to hear what really happened to this train before you blame anyone for not doing something that may or may not have prevented this. Until then, thank a fireman. These guys ran TOWARD this OUT OF CONTROL fire.

[metalflesh666]

I seen a response in here where someone said "Look, the track is getting washed away" Well.. If you saw that, why didn't you get on your cell phone and call it in? People ignore stuff too much these days

[countryrockstar3]

Apparently someone earlier in the day had called it in. Things were in motion to do something about it and then the accident happened. Those tracks have been rubbish for a long time.

[booblebobble]

someone called 911 30 mins before this happened and apparently nothing was done to stop it. someone is gonna be found liable for this whether its the 911 agency or the police/fire departments. its a shame that this could have been stopped

[jahovahut]

Rockford has the worst luck, no jobs and now this, what a waste of ethanol that we get to drink for the next five years.

[Hiei2k7]

Even if they change ballast, something such as a major rain event causing standing water/disintegration of the ground beneath can still cause derailments.

Besides, Last I knew, most of the track coming into/out of rockford hasn't had a major upgrade since the 60s. Gonna have to do more if they want the Amtrak Blackhawk to come back.

[boredmud]

sorry, i was just informed that there were 9 injured and my heart goes out to them and thier families.

[boredmud]

my heart goes out to the families of the deceased woman and the 3 injured. i heard about this after 11 pm on the 19th, it really sucks because i was celebrating my 26th birthday with my family when we heard about it.

[unionpacifictrain]

its because of the downpour of rain we got in rockford il it did something to the tracks

[sweetkitcat2]

yeah the rain washed out the dirt/gravel under the tracks. They "fixed" it two years ago i guess it wasn't good enough i bet they will do better this time so this won't happen again

[FBIgeoff]

i was on the first to arrive fire company on the scene cherry valley squad 541. thanks for taking a short video to remember it by... this was the south side i was on north so its a completely different view. it was amazing i spent almost 3 days straight there ill remember this forever

[rockfordnews]

FBIgeoff:  Thanks for all your hard work. It was a tough weekend for you. What a horrible situation. I agree that it was very different when viewed from each direction.

[obamasux69]

well i live near this and Im glad to know we have such a good firedepartment. But I think If I was fighting this fire..I would have flew forest fire fighter planes and or heilcopters to drop water on this thing. since it was so big...my prayers go out to all.

[breebuh]

wow I have no idea that this was going on. I believe I was in bed... Having Mono. lol. But this is crazy. I thought nothing happened here in rockford. This is pretty tragic.

[jazzyjess05]

the explosion could be seen as far as beloit on I-90. the train was throwing up railroad ties as it hit the crossing, which meant somewhere before the crossing something was obstructing the track (possibly a fallen tree branch or large debris) and the train was forced off the track slightly enough to "hydroplane".

[rockfordnews]

Nothing was obstructing the track. It was washing away due to the rain and standing water. Eyewitness accounts describe it well enough to confirm why the train came off the track and we live so close, we know what it looked like after the rains that day. Also, the train did NOT hydroplane. It was only going 35 MPH and it would NEVER hydroplane. Way too heavy.

[sweetkitcat2]

I can't believe my family didn't hear it. We live past Alpine and we can hear the train pass by until it goes through mulford. around that time my cousin was over at our house and couldn't go home. and that's when we heard about it. was there flooding too on alpine because they blocked off alpine and sandy hollow. and 20th st

[Boss302fan]

LOL

Trains don't hydroplane.

[Ewing5150]

how would that even work?! lol

[ses6239]

Jazzyjess05, the fire could be seen from the Capron area 16-18 miles to the area north east.

[AnAutumnWind]

Too bad that crossing didn't have cameras on it. Would have captured the whole thing start to finish.

[diah4]

die*

[diah4]

My goodness.

anybody fie?

[cloud5353]

yeah 1 woman died

[andrewh23]

Interesting that the military was carrying out a terror response exercise that involved a derailed train this weekend at the exact same time. Vigilant Guard.

[menginn5]

i drive over the tracks everyday on the way to school.. god bless everyone involved.. my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone!

[1nm1]

Would love to see any videos of emergency responders enroute to the scene. Considering how many fire departments were involved, someone ought to have some good video of it.

Thoughts & prayers with everyone inpacted.

[zopie71]

We saw it from I39 as we exited last nite about 8:45pm. I couldn't believe how high the flames were! Scary!

[zbrusky]

My sister lives literally 2 blocks up the road if that. so random and crazy. r.i.p to the lady that died as a result of this crash.

[Rcav23]

yeah that fire was crazy, my father is a fireman and hazmat tech for the rockford fire department and was called into work that night. he said it was was nasty scene

[mattblackpower]

i never got 2 see the fire, only orange smoke

[ButtChinLive]

The railroad tracks have always been bad there

[moose6692]

the tracks are brutal i cross over them atleast once a week going to the airport and back and the one sets fine but the other one is brutal no matter how fast your going

[Deadlyextreme1]

That Put Rockford On The Map.Sadly Though

[slingblade65]

Holy shit ! Was it CSX ?? They're always going off the track around here

[1nm1]

No, it was a Canadian National train

[salm37]

What landmark was it near?....I live in Loves Park

[kingsinep]

It was right by the Rockford auto auction place......not much but industrial back there

[ButtChinLive]

its on the same road as skateland

[squeepa21]

Skateland is on Sandy Hollow - this accident occurred on Mulford Rd.

[obamasux69]

squeepa 21 were you at skateland

[squeepa21]

lol - I haven't been to Skateland in probably 10 years, but still know where it's at. I was actually at the intersection of Mulford & Harrison when I heard the explosion and saw the fireball in the air...

[ares018]

I drove by, it was wild!

[ButtChinLive]

If anyone has a video camera and lived hear the train. They need to do a vlog

[ButtChinLive]

I'm in Winnebago

My friends grandma works near this,and one of her co-workers saw the woman in the car get hit by the train. the woman got out of the car one fire, fell to her knees, and died. The woman who saw all of this went up to help her but couldn't get close because the flams were to hot.

[rockfordnews]

I received several personal messages from a person who witnessed the entire event and saw the woman burn and collapse... This person said that the train was bouncing up and down on the track until it finally detached and exploded. They gave a very detailed description way before any official announcements were made. They were very clear that it was not a car hitting the train... It was a washed out track. There was standing water all over the place. Not a good situation at all.

[ButtChinLive]

they need to blog it or vlog it or something. they need to write down history!!

[rockfordnews]

I agree... I will always remember this. I'm sure it will all be recorded in a TSA hearing. Finally we will have a better RR crossing than we have ever had on Mulford Rd. The TSA recommendations will probably be a lot better than it was by far.

[protege42012]

dude this was some scary shit. my family lives on mulford and we saw the train de rail then it blew up. we have to evac the whole night. the fire was intense

[skelbows]

Good footage

[eulogyfu]

We were in my parents right behind the tracks when we heard a loud boom and then the glass in our house nearly shattered!! We were like what the fuck is that!! So me and my dad ran outside and saw the blazing inferno! What u can't see in this video was probably the most horrific thing, we stumbled upon 4 oil tankers spilled over and on fire. To bad tis video can't show u this. Because Rockford people will never see anything like this i can't put into words and seeing the cars burnt up!

[iflyc77]

awesome

my friend and I walked right up to the end of the train around 5am today. The fire has gotten a lot smaller from what it was in this video

[RagingxHofa]

damn some of my family lives by here

[valeriehudgens]

My family was coming back from SHo-Gun and crossed this exact track at approx 7:45. What time did this happen? We were there for my daughters 8th birthday. THANK GOD We didn't stay for an extra few minutes. The crazy thing is... when we crossed this exact track, I said to my husband, "Look at the track, it is getting washed away" and he said "Yeah, look at one of the railroad ties is floating down there!" Can you imagine if we crossed a little later. UGH....

[cmstpp561]

No worries.. it wasn't track conditions.. Someone hit the side of that tank car... It's really sad.

[rockfordnews]

Nobody hit the train or tank car... It was track conditions. I'm not sure what you are talking about or how you would have heard someone hit the train.

[ButtChinLive]

It was all the water! I live in Winnebago and my whole yard was flooded. Its so crazy, nothing has happened like this to Rockford

[valeriehudgens]

It wasn't track conditions? how could a car hit a moving train and de-rail it... that is simply not possible. Those railroad tracks were moving when OUR little car went over them.. We were lucky to get over them!!! Those things were FLOATING.... OMG How could you say this????

[ButtChinLive]

Thank goodness you're ok!

[valeriehudgens]

You have no idea, I heard there was a man that got out of the first car (waiting to cross) saw it 'floating' back and forth and told everyone to run. Can you imagine if you were in that line-up!!! Craziness!!! I still don't know if he's alive. How sad.

[LindsayElisabeth18]

This is so awful.

And what amazes me is that my family almost went this way to go to Dairy Queen.

Thank God we didn't.

My prayers go out to the woman who was killed and her family.

[spydermech]

Is this the same rail line, that they want to put new passenger service to Chicago on? I really hope better infrastructure planning and repair is done, if it is.

[spydermech]

Thanks for having better video than the news stations. This crossing was washed out about 2-3 years ago when Rockford flooded last. Crossing was closed for about 2 weeks while they rebuilt. apparently not good enough for another major rainfall.

[ses6239]

Spydermech - one of the problems is that all of the industrial development up stream from the accident site is causing increasing volumes of water to cross Mulford Rd at that point, AND the CNRR rail bed is built right on top of the stream bank. The other bank of the stream is a hillside so all of the water has to either flow down the stream next to the RR or overtop the RR to flood into the corn field. This problem is only going to get worse in the future as more development occurs upstream.

[christophorM]

they keep saying "runaway train" is that true? or a derailment due to track conditions?

[rockfordnews]

It was not a runaway train. Definitely not.

[TheMudmaster]

Tremendous rain storms, tornados, over 5 inches of rain, roads flooded, storm sewers backed up, and the river high might explain why they pre-spotted a rescue boat.

[golfo4u]

At 0:30; for what did the firebrigade bring a rubber dinghy to a burning train incident?

[bubtech815]

That is the Cherry Valley Rescue truck... There was over 4" of rain that day and they were prepared for water rescues.

[Neojester15]

i was at work when this happen...my supervisor and 2 managers were talking about it...i haerd it was a huge fire

[rockfordnews]

kingsinep: WNTA in Rockford seems to have the best coverage. We listened to them to stay up to the minute tonight. They might have a live feed on their web site, but I'm not too sure. The fatality that heard about has not been confirmed. I'm stunned that the people in the cars sitting at that crossing where able to get out alive. When it first happened, we thought that they all had to be dead.

[dracodormiens7]

My neighbor's friend's mother was third in line at the crossing. According to my neighbor, the man who was first in line saw the train starting to rock back and forth, jumped out of his car, and told everyone behind him to run for it. I'm sure whoever that was saved several lives.

[rockfordnews]

What kills me is that the Associated Press is saying that witnesses saw several cars "hydroplaning" which is totally not possible. They were rocking back and forth I'm sure because of the weakened state of the tracks due to flooding and tons of standing water. This is a known issue in this section of the track and two heavy rainfalls in one day just was too much for it to handle. The track repairs in the past were mediocre at best and little was done to prevent this.

[rockfordnews]

Was this on the south side of the tracks or the north side of the tracks?

[dracodormiens7]

I'm not sure. I wasn't told which side which side they were on.

[rockfordnews]

If you find out, let us know. I've heard varying stories.

[davesowen23]

South tracks!

[rockfordnews]

davesowen23: I think only dracodormiens7 would know which side their neighbor's friend's mother was waiting on.

[kingsinep]

I read on chicago sun-times that one person died during the derailment.....don't know how accurate it is but I hope not......Any news on how long this will burn since our local channels suck?

[NAH122008]

It will burn for a few days. They cannot just put out the fire. They will have to burn off the remaining ethanol in the tanks. They may be puting water on it but that is to keep other tanker cars in the vicininty from getting too hot and exploding. If they can get close enough they will actuall tap and vent (burn) off the tanks that may be damaged but cannot be moved due to possible explosion. CNs hazmat team should be on site this morning to facilitate the cleanup.

[rockfordnews]

dracodormiens7:  When we were there a few minutes ago, it was burning strong... The roar is incredible. I'm so glad there were little to no fatalities. I guess we'll find out more tomorrow.

[rockfordnews]

upopie: He was pretty safe where he was considering the situation. It had already been announced that is was ethanol in the tankers, so they were mostly concerned about additional explosions. We just went to check things out again a little while ago (almost 6 hours after the crash) and the tankers are still burning pretty strong. Everything around that area has been evacuated, but there are officials out and about from what we could see.

[dracodormiens7]

I live in the subdivision about a half a mile south of the wreck. I can still hear the fire blazing if I go outside...

[momma24more]

this was the craziest I have family that lives in that subdivision Thankfully everyone is safe and there are not many fatalities

[stormchaserfan12]

THEY WERE FILLED WITH ETHENOL AND GAS

[ses6239]

Just ethanol. No gas, but ethanol is just about as bad.

[upopie]

Not knowing what was in those tank cars, it was rather dangerous to be as close as you were. Chlorine or ammonia are very deadly gases and the amount in a tank car is enough to cover up to a mile! Also, look up the term BLEVE and you'll be amazed how far an end of a tank car can fly when the car structure fails.

Nice video though!

[freybearfreakfan]

thnx for posting this