Tank cars carrying crude derail downtown

No injuries, spills reported as Union Pacific continues investigation

Union Pacific Railroad work crews survey the scene of a 12 tank car derailment that occurred about 11:30 a.m. Sunday near the Texarkana, Texas-side viaduct. All 12 tank cars carried crude oil but none of them ruptured during the derailment and no oil apparently spilled.
Union Pacific Railroad work crews survey the scene of a 12 tank car derailment that occurred about 11:30 a.m. Sunday near the Texarkana, Texas-side viaduct. All 12 tank cars carried crude oil but none of them ruptured during the derailment and no oil apparently spilled.

Union Pacific Railroad officials are still trying to determine what caused 12 tank cars filled with crude oil to derail at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday near the Texarkana, Texas-side viaduct.

Jeff DeGraff, with Union Pacific's Media Relations Department, said that of the 12 tank cars, nine of them completely left the railroad tracks while the other three only partially derailed.

DeGraff added that no one sustained injuries during derailment and that railroad crews couldn't find any crude oil leakage for spillage from any of the 12 tank cars.

Union Pacific work crews continued to place the tanks cars back on the tracks throughout Sunday.

Texarkana, Texas Assistant Fire Chief Chris Black said the fire department received notice of the situation and remained on standby in case they were needed.

A press time, Union Pacific officials were still trying to determine what caused the derailment.

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