- Author
-
National Transportation Safety Board
- Title
- Railroad Accident Report: Hazardous Materials Railroad Accident in the Alton and Southern Gateway Yard in East St. Louis, Illinois, January 22, 1972.
- Coporate
- National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, DC
- Report
-
NTSB-RAR-73-1,
January 31, 1973,
27 p.
- Keywords
-
railroad accidents
|
accident investigations
|
hazardous materials
|
LP gas
|
injuries
- Identifiers
- classification yards; tank-car puncture; retardation systems; tank-car design
- Abstract
- At approximately 6:20 am on January 22, 1972, a large cloud of vaporized liquid petroleum gas (LPG) exploded in the Alton andSouthern Railroad Company's Gateway yard in East St. Louis, Illinois. More than 230 residents of East St. Louis and railroad employees were injured. Property damage in the railroad yard and surrounding residential and business area was estimated at $7 1/1 million. The vapor cloud originated when the head of a tank car containing LPG (propylene) was punctured in an overspeed impace with a standing hopper car during a switching operation.