On Monday, December 30, 2013, at 2:10 p.m. central standard time, a westbound BNSF
Railway Company (BNSF) train with 112 cars loaded with grain derailed 13 cars while traveling
on main track 1 at milepost 28.5 near Casselton, North Dakota. The first car that derailed (the
45th car) fouled the adjacent track, main track 2. At 2:11 p.m. an eastbound BNSF train with
104 tank cars loaded with petroleum crude oil (crude oil), traveling on main track 2, struck the
derailed car that was fouling the track and derailed two head-end locomotives, a buffer car, and
20 cars loaded with crude oil. After the collision, about 476,000 gallons of crude oil were released and burned. (See figure 1.) On the day of the accident, the weather was cloudy with a temperature of -1°F and winds from the north at 7 mph. No injuries were reported by residents or either of the train crews. The BNSF reported damages of $13.5 million, not including lading and environmental remediation.
We determined that the probable cause of the collision of the oil train with the derailed grain train car was a broken axle on the 45th car of the grain train caused by an internal void that was created during axle manufacture. Contributing to the cause of the derailment were inadequate interchange rules used to locate internal material defects in secondhand-use axles. Contributing to the severity of the accident was the release and pooling of a highly flammable product that resulted in a fire and caused additional cars to fail.
As a result of its investigation, we made recommendations to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and to the Federal Railroad Administration.
