Railyard explosion, inspections raise safety questions about Union Pacific’s hazmat shipping

By JOSH FUNK
AP Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal inspectors have twice found hundreds of defects in the locomotives and railcars Union Pacific was using at the world’s largest railyard in Nebraska, but none of those seem to explain why a shipping container filled with toxic acid exploded there this fall. The Sept. 14 blast fortunately happened in a remote corner of the railyard and the resulting fire didn’t spread widely. Investigators appear focused on the questionable decision to load dozens of plastic barrels of perchloric acid inside a shipping container with a wood floor even though that acid is known to react with wood. But officials say the way the acid was loaded might not have violated any rules.