TEMPE, Ariz. — Union Pacific has agreed to pay almost a half-million dollars to settle a lawsuit by the city of Tempe over a July 2020 derailment which led to a bridge fire and hazardous-material spill.
KSAZ-TV reports the money is to reimburse the city for costs incurred in the July 29, 2020, incident, in which seven cars of a train derailed on a bridge over Tempe Town Lake [see “No estimate for repair of UP bridge …,” Trains News Wire, July 30, 2020]. Part of the nine-span bridge, built in 1912, collapsed, and one of the cars leaked the chemical cyclohexane. A train crew member was treated for smoke inhalation and a firefighter was treated for dehydration.
KPNX-TV reports UP will pay $481,715, and that the money will cover city costs for replacement of damaged city property, response costs, traffic control, environmental testing, and other expenses.
More than 100 firefighters responded to the incident, which halted light-rail service through the area for about a day. UP spent about $11 million to repair the bridge, which was closed for almost two weeks.
— Updated at 10:40 a.m. on Feb. 12 with additional details.
Walter: Sure wish I could have seen the episode of Engineering Catastrophes you cite. I appreciate how engineering mistakes can be found and corrected to create a safer environment for the future. That said, can ALL sun kinks be the error of engineering? Not to say the bridge was NOT the cause of the disastrous wreck, but it is rather suggestive that the cause COULD have been what ACTUALLY happened just a WEEK earlier.
David: Maybe your right, we all have opinions. Except, here in my locale, UP has replaced several wooden structures with the new concrete prefab trestles. Quite expensive propositions, but they are doing it. They are interesting to watch, and VERY annoying to the neighborhood. The have the diesel fuel pile driver in use and it is LOUD. It is used day after day until done.
Considering its industry practice to basically neglect bridges until they fail by not doing any but essential maintenance to big organizations like UP the fine is just the cost of doing business. CN was so neglectful of the Quebec Bridge the government had to step in to save the bridge.
Did the bridge collapse cause the derailment or did the fire resulting from the derailment cause the bridge collapse?
Andy this wreck was just on engineering catastrophes on the science channel Friday night. They said there was a derailment a week or so before on the approach to the bridge. They think there was a rail kink it was around 105 degrees that day that my have caused a derailment then a fire then the collapse. I can see the city looking for some reimbursement on this. A lot of man power was there for days like fire, police, an city workers.