14 February 2020
Elkhorn City, Kentucky: a fiery train derailment by a landslide
Posted by Dave Petley
Elkhorn City, Kentucky: a fiery train derailment by a landslide
On 13 February 2020 at about 7 am a freight train was derailed by a landslide close to Elkhorn City in Pike County in Kentucky, USA. Fortunately the train crew were able to escape the accident even though five carriages were derailed. The train consisted of three locomotives, 96 freight cars carrying ethanol, and two sand cars. Some of the carriages caught fire after the accident, meaning that the train crew had to be rescued by boat.
This image, tweeted by the Kentucky Energy & Environment Cabinet, shows the extremely messy aftermath of the accident:-
The aftermath of the rail accident outside Elkhorn City in Kentucky, caused by a shallow landslide on 13 February 2020. Image tweeted by Kentucky EEC.
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The landslide can be seen on the right hand side of the image, with debris that extends to the river. The lead locomotive is centre right, with the cab close to the river. Videos suggest that the train crew had to be rescued by boat from this location. Note the various derailed freight cars.
I have struggled to find a good image of the landslide itself, but a video posted by WYMT includes the following still:-
The aftermath of the landslide at Elkhorn City in Kentucky that derailed a train on 13 February 2020. Image from a video posted by WYMT.
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From this image the landslide appears to be a planar slide on a steep, wooded slope. Based on the news reports, my preliminary interpretation is that the landslide occurred on the slope shown below, which is at 37.333, -82.371:-
Google Earth image showing the possible location of rail accident outside Elkhorn City in Kentucky, caused by a shallow landslide on 13 February 2020.
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The landslide was undoubtedly caused by the prolonged heavy rainfall currently affecting large parts of the United States. Landslides have been reported elsewhere too, such as in West Virginia.
Landslides induced rail derailments are not unusual, fortunately in this case there has been no loss of life.
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
We’re going to have to overhaul completely all existing standards for routing, drainage, grade and slope maintenance, for rail as well as paved traffic. They’re all based on historic levels of rainfall, which are outdated.
[Yes, this is exactly right in my view. It is going to be very expensive. D.]
While dramatic, the image does not support the “several hundred yards” of debris said in some reports to be on the tracks. [By the way, to a long-time reader of the blog who had wondered about any need to forward this local report, your world-wide coverage is gratifying.]
Hi there, local resident here. This derailment occured roughly 2 miles from my home. The google image you have is actually a couple more miles west of the actual incident. The location is 37°20’05.31″N, 82°23’37.01″W. It’s nice to see international eyes on the situation. You’re right, the situation resulted from excessive rainfall. It could have been a lot worse. The train crew was literally caught between fire and flood, as the river that the locomotive wound up in was moving very swiftly, having only dropped below flood stage a day or so before.