The information in this report is preliminary and will be supplemented or corrected during the course of the investigation.
On August 27, 2016, about 8:26 a.m. eastern daylight time, tank car AXLX 1702, specification DOT 105J500W, experienced a sudden tank shell crack shortly after it was filled with liquefied compressed chlorine at a rail car loading facility in New Martinsville, West Virginia. During the 2 1/2 hours after the crack developed, the entire 90-ton load of chlorine released from the crack and formed a large vapor cloud that migrated south from the facility along the Ohio River valley. The weather at the time of the accident was lifting fog after sunrise, 72°F, and light wind from the north at 1 mph.