MARSHALL COUNTY, W.Va. – Officials were on the scene of an early morning train derailment in Marshall County.
Cars from a CSX Rail derailed less than a few car lengths from the Axiall Chemical Plant just outside of New Martinsville. CSX made the call to 911 around 2:30 am.
Moundsville, Washington Lands, and New Martinsville fire departments, along with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department and Tri-State EMS, responded to control and clear the scene. Two cars carrying chlorine and two carrying hydrochloric acid derailed. However, there were no injuries, nor environmental releases.
“They responded to the incident, which occurred on CSX rail line crews from Axiall and CSX were able to determine there was no spill or any type of release,” Marshall County EMA Director Tom Hart said.
CSX Rail line is handling response and recovery. The cause of the derailment has yet to be determined. Axiall is working with CSX on the incident.
Metro-North slammed by Blumenthal for sitting on $1 billion
By Tony Terzi, August 12, 2015 6:28 PM
Metro North train crash
NEW HAVEN – Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) is steaming because Metro-North Railroad, loaned nearly $1 billion dollars of federal money to implement a train safety technology, is sitting on that money and will miss the Federal Railroad Administration’s year-end deadline to put it in place.
With 145 train accidents resulting in 300 deaths in recent decades, Blumenthal said Wednesday he doesn’t understand why Positive Train Control technology wasn’t in place long ago.
“We’ve known about this technology and there’s been calls to implement it since 1969, when a crash in Darien took four lives,” said Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
In a recent report, the FRA stated nearly all of the nation’s railroads will fail to meet the December 31 deadline.
“Tragically, our own Metro-North is failing to set a definite deadline for adopting it, which is unacceptable,” said Blumenthal.
Metro-North says the safety technology will be fully operational in 2018. All railroads not in compliance by the end of this year could be fined tens of thousands of dollars per day, until they adhere to the mandates.
A Metro-North spokesperson says “forcing fines on the MTA and other railroads, that have worked closely with the FRA to establish safe implementation timelines, distracts from our joint goal of installing PTC expeditiously.”
But, $1 billion dollars of federal money should get the wheels rolling much faster, according to passengers.
“What are they doing with the money?” asked Donielle Camerato of Branford. “Why are they waiting so long? There’s an awful lot of train accidents.”
In West Haven, in the spring of 2013, Robert Luden, of East Haven, who was a rail worker, was killed while working on the tracks.
“He would be alive today if this system had been in place because that train would’ve been stopped before it hit him,” said Blumenthal.
Shoreline East, Connecticut’s other commuter railroad, has an earlier version of Positive Train Control already in place on its tracks, which are operated by Amtrak.
To read the Federal Railroad Administration report in its entirety, click here.
The derailment of a non-passenger train outside the Smithsonian Metro station last Thursday was caused by a track defect that was discovered on July 9 but not fixed, Metro said.
The transit agency is again facing public scrutiny after the derailment happened as the morning commute got underway that day. A six-car train was leaving the rail yard and gearing up for service near the Smithsonian Metro station.
Metro interim general manager and CEO Jack Requa said the train’s wheels lost contact with the rail due to an infrastructure problem known as “wide gauge.” The rail had widen so much that it caused the wheels to lose grip from the tracks and the train’s eventual derailment.
“The one that was detected was a Code Black defect,” said Metro deputy general manager Rob Troup. “That track should have been taken out of service at that period of time.”
“I want to take this opportunity to again and again apologize to our customers,” Requa said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.
He said he could not defend the transit agency’s failure to repair the issue prior to the derailment.
“This is totally unacceptable,” said Requa. “It is unacceptable to me and it should be unacceptable to everyone within the chain of command, all the way down to track laborers and track inspectors who are out on the lines on a first-line basis.”
Following the derailment, Requa ordered a system-wide inspection of every mile of track, which could take up to a month to complete. He said customers can expect delays in the coming days as possible additional track repairs are made.
Requa apologized to customers for Thursday’s derailment and delays caused by a power issue the following day.
Hercules Offshore files bankruptcy with plan to convert debt
By Bloomberg, August 13, 2015
Several Texas oil and gas producers have either filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection or have missed interest payments and are heading toward restructuring. Photo: James Durbin
Hercules Offshore Inc., owner of the largest fleet of shallow-water drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, filed for bankruptcy with a plan to be taken over by senior creditors.
The company said it planned to use the bankruptcy process to implement a proposal, announced in July, to cut $1.2 billion in debt. The plan calls for investors to trade their senior notes for almost 97 percent of Hercules’s equity.
Some noteholders would also lend the company $450 million to help finish building a new oil-drilling rig, the company said in a statement.
Under the plan, current shareholders would have a chance to split the 3 percent of the company not going to noteholders, Hercules said. The plan must be approved by a bankruptcy judge in Wilmington, Delaware, where the case was filed Thursday.
Hercules, which leases rigs to oil and gas producers, said the plan has the “overwhelming” support of the noteholders.
The Houston-based company, formed in 2004 as a small gulf driller, has a fleet of 27 jack-up rigs and 21 lift boats.
Flagging Demand
Demand for both U.S. and international business has flagged as the price of oil has plunged. Drillers around the world have also been suffering from a glut of new sophisticated vessels displacing older rigs in the market. Cal Dive International Inc., a contractor that does manned diving and platform installation, sought creditor protection in March.
Debt issues by Hercules and fellow Houston-based drilling rig provider Paragon Offshore were among the worst-performing oil and gas service bonds in the high-yield energy index in the first quarter of 2015, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Spencer Cutter and Yuanliang Huang.
The number of rigs operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has fallen by more than half from last year’s high of 63 in August, according to Baker Hughes Inc.
Hercules listed liabilities of $1.3 billion and $546 million in assets as of Aug. 11.
The case is In re Hercules Offshore Inc., 15-11685, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
