New report describes how Custer train crash happened, and the FBI is investigating
FBI investigators are in charge of an inquiry into how a BNSF oil train derailed and burned last year in rural Whatcom County, and a new report confirms previous allegations that the 106-car train had split into two sections before several cars jumped the tracks and ignited in a fireball.
In its report released Thursday, June 10, the National Transportation Safety Board did not determine the cause of the incident, where 10 tank cars loaded with highly flammable Bakken crude oil derailed at Portal Way and Main Street shortly before noon Dec. 22, 2020, as the BNSF train headed toward the Phillips 66 refinery at Cherry Point.
Three tank cars caught fire and 120 nearby residents were evacuated for several hours as firefighters brought the blaze under control.
Some 29,000 gallons of oil spilled and damages exceeded $1.5 million, according to the NTSB report.
No nearby homes or businesses were damaged and no lasting environmental damage was reported by the state Department of Ecology, despite the location’s proximity to sensitive wetlands.
But Thursday’s NTSB report said that the train, with two locomotives in front and two “pusher” engines in the rear, uncoupled between cars 65 and 64.
As the front engines pulling the train were moving forward at 7 mph, the rear locomotives accelerated past 20 mph, double the speed limit for that section of track.
A recent news report from KUOW-FM, the National Public Radio affiliate in Seattle, quotes a retired NTSB investigator and railroad union officials who say that the way the train uncoupled and jumped the tracks could not have been an accident, and they called it sabotage.
In its report, the NTSB said a security camera at the Bonneville Power Administration substation in Custer shows the train stationary before starting on its trip to the Phillips 66 refinery.
“As the train continued to move forward, the rear end of the front segment came into camera view, showing that the train had become separated into two segments. After 17 seconds, the rear half of the train came into camera view. The trailing rear portion of the train was composed of 45 tank cars, a rear buffer gondola car, and two locomotives,” the NTSB’s report said.
“The derailment sequence began when the tank car at line 65 in the rear segment collided with the tank car at line 64 in the front segment, as the separated rear end caught up with the front end of the train. Locomotive event recorder data for the rear-end locomotives in positions 111 and 112 showed that the trailing rear train segment speed was between 21.1 mph and 21.9 mph prior to the collision. Meanwhile, the front-end train speed recorded by both head-end locomotives was 7 mph when its emergency brake application occurred at 11:38:38 a.m. The differential in train segment speed was between 14.1 mph and 14.9 mph at impact,” the report said.
Officials from the FBI and the Federal Railroad Administration have told The Bellingham Herald several times that they are withholding their reports until the NTSB releases its findings or until criminal charges are filed.
“There has been no evidence found by our investigators at this time to indicate that this was an intentional act,” NTSB spokesman Christopher O’Neil told The Herald in January.
A Federal Railroad Administration official told The Herald on Thursday that its report on the derailment will be released soon, and a BNSF spokeswoman said that the FBI is in charge of the inquiry.
“The FBI is the lead investigator on this incident so we will not be releasing any information regarding the investigation at this time,” BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent told The Herald in an email.
Both BNSF and the railroad union SMART declined the give The Herald copies of a report cited in the KUOW story that discussed safety measures designed to stop the pusher locomotive in the event that train cars uncouple.
An email from the FBI’s office in Seattle said the agency does not discuss the outcome of investigations unless criminal charges are filed.
“As the NTSB report states, investigation into the cause of the accident is still ongoing, the FBI told The Herald in an email. “Lastly, the FBI does not issue reports on our ‘findings.’ Typically, only when criminal charges are filed do documents become publicly available.”
Meanwhile, state Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, is urging the Legislature to examine the incident.
“That this derailment might have been the result of deliberate sabotage ought to horrify every one of us, even those who oppose the use of fossil fuels,” Ericksen said in an emailed statement Wednesday, June 9.
Ericksen based his call for hearings on the KUOW story and the fact that two women are facing federal terrorism charges in connection with several incidents in 2020 where shunts were placed on a track in an apparent attempt to derail trains.
Taken together, the incidents deserve legislative scrutiny before the start of the 2022 session, Ericksen said.
This story was originally published June 11, 2021 at 12:33 PM.
