Thursday afternoon officials at Union Pacific Railroad (UP) confirmed to KRTS News that there was a spill of sulfuric acid on the train tracks on the east end of Valentine on the morning of Wednesday, March 21. There were no injuries reported.
At 10:21 AM on Wednesday morning, a train mechanic discovered a leak on a tank car carrying sulfuric acid, sitting on the east end of Valentine. The employee reported the incident, and railroad officials dispatched a hazmat team, which stopped the leak, then cleaned and cleared the area. The entire process took about two hours. Train traffic was not affected, because the accident occurred on a sidetrack.
Officials for the railroad explained that the railcars themselves are often not owned by Union Pacific, and so UP has begun an investigation with the private company that owns the cars to determine the cause of the spill. There is some speculation that it may have been a gasket on the tank car.