BY CHRIS RAYSON
SEATTLE - A massive mudslide, rushing down a steep cliff, slammed into a moving Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) freight train January 15, knocking five railcars with twelve cargo containers off the track in Woodway, Washington, north of Seattle. The engineer suffered a back injury.

A second, smaller slide on the morning of January 16 hit the same area where crews were working to clear and repair the track.

The slide was over 300 yards wide, covered about 200 feet of track, and extended 900 feet into the water. At some points on the single track the mud and hill debris measured 40 feet high. Seven containers from the five railcars were pushed into Puget Sound and five more containers were buried in debris near the tracks.

Shortly after 10:30 p.m., the crew of the 35-car train, powered by three locomotives, rounded a curve and slammed into the start of the slide at 35 miles per hour. The first two units were severely damaged, with mud as high as the nose of the cab.

The full force of the slide that carried the cars into the sound hit the train behind the locomotives and the first car, only 200 feet from the crew. The train included cars containing hazardous materials, but none of these were hit. Shortly before the slide, an Amtrak passenger train had passed through the same area.

This accident was the second BNSF derailment in Snohomish County in two weeks to be reported in the media. It highlighted the dangerous conditions affecting rail transportation in the Pacific Northwest in the wake of massive snow and rain in the last month.

An earlier derailment occurred on January 1 near Cathcart, an area in Snohomish County east of Everett, Washington, that includes farms and nearby residences.

While no one was hurt, "area residents were briefly evacuated from their homes because of fears that ethanol would be spilled from one of the overturned container units," according to the January 2 Seattle Times. The article continued, "None of the liquid spilled."

A January 17 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer headlined "Slide-wise, danger remains real as soggy slopes are still unstable," points to the real potential for more landslides in the crisis conditions generated by the storms. The trigger that sets off the unstable hillside could be another storm, a spring thaw melting snow accumulations in nearby mountains, or the vibration of a heavy freight train.

The landslide danger is far from over in other areas as well. According to the January 17 Post-Intelligencer, Tim Walsh, a geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, warned city of Seattle officials on January 15 - the day of the derailment in Woodway - that "a portion of the bluff" just north of Carkeek Park "was so unstable that just the vibrations of a train could trigger a major landslide." Burlington Northern Santa Fe's main line goes through Carkeek Park, located in Seattle.

"The bottom line is we'll not run trains until it's safe," BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas assured the media at the scene of the derailment in Woodway. Despite these assurances, BNSF freight trains were soon moving through the area. Track conditions are treacherous.

Meanwhile, Amtrak canceled its passenger service between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, after the January 15 derailment. Seattle passengers bound for Chicago are being bused to Spokane, Washington, to board the train there. Amtrak reservations confirmed January 31 that passenger service through this unstable area has not yet resumed.

Chris Rayson is a switchman with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe in Seattle and a member of the United Transportation Union.  
 
 
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