Australia: Concerns over acid leak from derailed train

MELBOURNE, Australia

Concerns were raised in Australia’s Queensland state Tuesday that up to 31,500 liters of sulfuric acid may have leaked from a freight train that derailed while carrying hundreds of thousands of liters of the highly corrosive substance.

According to Queensland police, the train – all 26 of whose wagons came off the tracks Sunday amid monsoon rains – was actually transporting 819,000 liters of the acid rather than the 200,000 initially reported.

News broadcaster ABC also quoted Inspector Trevor Kidd as saying police were investigating the discrepancy in figures.

"Either way, it's a substantial amount of sulfuric acid," he said.

Police suspect that the substance may be leaking from one wagon ruptured around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) east of the outback town of Julia Creek.

"No other ruptured carriages have been identified as leaking at this stage," according to a statement.

ABC reported that the tests conducted by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection so far suggest that the leakage has not had a negative impact on a creek in the area.

The emergency declaration by Queensland police remains in force, and a two-kilometer exclusion zone is set to remain in place over the next two days.

Heavy monsoon rains have hindering cleanup efforts, which were previously expected to last a week, but the revised leakage figure has made it difficult to estimate a duration.

Three drivers for Aurizon, the country’s largest rail freight firm, sustained injuries in the accident but have since been released from a nearby hospital.

An investigation into the accident and whether flooding played a role is ongoing.

"Four shipments of this type are made a week," a statement from Aurizon said.

"Both Aurizon and Queensland Rail will investigate the incident and determine its cause," it added.

According to a 2014 Aurizon report, minor derailments cost the company more than A$1.3 million (nearly $950,000) last year.

In the wake of the recent leakage, former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, the author of a book on modern trains, called for an upgrade of Australia’s railways.

"It is just crazy that just a few days of the wet season has led to a very bad derailment and closure of the line yet again," he told ABC.

"Now is the time to, not only standardize the Townsville to Mount Isa and ultimately Tennant Creek link, to do it to a higher level of construction."