CANADIAN NATIONAL WORKS TO REMOVE DAMAGED RAIL CARS AFTER ACCIDENT
Clean up crews continued to work Tuesday to clear the wreckage of a Canadian National freight train that derailed in southern Illinois over the weekend.
The recovery effort has picked up since railroad workers were finally able to pump out the vinyl chloride from a punctured tank car Tuesday morning, CN spokesman Jack Burke said when reached in Tamaroa, where the accident occurred. Some residents are returning home after authorities reduced the evacuation zone from a three-mile radius to one mile, he said.
Canadian National has been testing the air for chemical releases, 'but at a half-mile there is no finding of vinyl chloride,' Burke said.
The northbound train was headed from Memphis to Champaign, Ill., when 22 cars left the track Sunday.
Railroad and emergency response officials said the track was damaged, but refused to speculate on when the line would reopen. The National Transportation Safety Board is at the site to investigate the cause of the accident.