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https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RAR0504.pdf

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1997246/

https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=A4GY

I lived in the evacuation exclusion zone.  I went to stay with relatives over 5 miles away.  The chlorine was so strong it was burning our eyes that far away. Graniteville is shaped like a bowl, basically.  The chlorine gas followed along the lowest point of the bowl, which was Horse Creek.  Horse Creek empties into Langley Pond.  There was a significant fish kill.  Clean up personnel were in the area for years.  The mills closed and devastated Graniteville.  They tried to paint and repaint Woodhead mill for years.  It had been in the direct path of the gas.  Paint would not stick to the building for years.

An extreme case of "shit did i forget anything" on the drive home from a long 12 hour shift

"Train crews have an insanely high level of responsibility"
Yet they are paid peanuts and crews are thinned out again and again to increase profits. Because "what could go wrong anyway, eh? It's not like the driver has to pay attention to steer around corners or something like that. All they have to do is speed up or brake."

"Cost cutting" would probably have been an appropriate addition to the Bingo card.

As soon as i heard that the switch was operated manually, i knew where this was going.

Imagine getting there, thinking "Oh god I hope that smell isn't chlorine" and being told "Yep that's an entire tanker of chlorine"

The fact that the line was not signalized was critical. On a signalized line, the switch in the wrong position would have lit block lights a sufficient distance from the switch to allow the train on the main line to stop before running onto the siding and crashing into the parked rali cars.

"Second stories" are important here. It's not just that the train crew messed up, it's that they were set up by the company to fail. With all the problems stacked up, failure was inevitable; it was just a matter of when.

Fun story: one of the police officers invovled in the clean up of this event forgot to tell the court docket hed be volunteering.... and he didnt show up for trafgic court, and my ticket for an accident got dropped!

Safety Director John has turned long-sleeved green shirts and orange vests into a trendy fashion statement.

Sigh. As soon as the discussion about crews started I knew exactly how this was going to play out.

To build on what John said about the chlorine gas covering the valley.  Chlorine gas is more than twice as dense as atmospheric air, so in the absence of  anything to mix it, it will tend to end up settling near the ground.  Thanks for making my Saturday morning, John!

I was 6 years old when that happened. I live 15 minutes from Graniteville down 421 where the main rail line runs along in the Horse Creek Valley. I remember school being canceled that day and the order to stay in doors was in effect. I pass by it almost every day. The mill is shut down. The branching lines are dead. You can still see some of the old line that crossed the road.

I worked for a different RR at the time and we had to fill out a Switch Point Awareness Form every time we moved a switch. Both the engineer and conductor had to acknowledge the direction of the switch before moving on.

"The Bane of my life: The NTSB"
            _  Plainly Difficult, 2025 _

We had school drills for this scenario and they were honestly the scariest personally, they would talk about how we'd need to get any type of clothing or something in the doors cracks, make sure the windows were sealed and just wait for an evaluation from authorities. I know it is deadly but they made it seem like any exposure was a death sentence and I remember being so scared that it would happen and it wouldn't be sealed enough.

Is there a non-highlighted copy of your root cause analysis card available for download somewhere?  I work in a chemical plant and I want to post some copies of it up in the Control Room and Safety Office.  And of course, one above my desk next to the "In my defense, i was left unsupervised" sign.

My dad worked at a place that used chlorine gas. Leaks are fairly awful because someone just walks into a low point, feels symptoms and has to get out fast before they have long term symptoms or die. They switched to one of the chlorine compounds.

As a Tech School instructor told us many years ago; "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, what makes you think you've time to go back & fix it?" KISS.....Keep It Simple, STUPID!