Train derailment south of Belen causes minor sulfuric acid spill

At approximately 8:40 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 13, Socorro County Fire Departments were dispatched to N.M. 116 in northern Socorro County in reference to a train derailment. The main concern of the seven-car derailment being three cars bearing sulfuric acid.

BNSF confirmed that one gallon of sulfuric acid spilled. According to a BNSF representative, the product and impacted soil was removed and will be disposed of in accordance with state and federal regulations. There were no injuries and cause remains under investigation, reported a BNSF representative.

According to Fred Berger, Socorro County Emergency Manager’s incident report, the New Mexico Emergency Operations Center (NMEOC) switchboard was notified of the initial dispatch information at 8:54 a.m. Berger arrived on the scene simultaneously with Midway Fire Chief Marc Wheeler.

Agencies on scene were New Mexico State Police, BNSF railway, SCSO, Midway Fire Department and Socorro Fire Department, reported Berger.

“We were able to respond quickly to requests and the coordination of communication among the multiple agencies was phenomenal. Every agency was cooperating, communicating and we had operational procedures in place to be able to disseminate information quickly,” Socorro County Manager Andy Lotrich said.

Berger reported he contacted BNSF, which advised that seven cars had derailed, three of which contained an unknown amount of sulfuric acid. They also advised that no cars were leaking at the time.

Berger and Wheeler conducted an in-person scene survey and confirmed no evidence that the three cars carrying sulfuric acid had been compromised. They noted that one car carrying soybeans had minor spillage, and two other cars carrying dry lime also had minor spillage.

The NMEOC switchboard was contacted, and an update was given. According to the report, NMEOC advised that BNSF was taking control of the scene and that they would contact Socorro County units if they were needed during the recovery operations. Emergency management operations were deactivated at that point, and Socorro County Fire units were cleared from the scene.

Public Information Officer Ray Wilson of New Mexico State Police reported no injuries and no hazardous material was released. The railroad company responded to clean up the derailment and investigate the cause, said Wilson.

At about 1:30 p.m., Russell Huffman, of the EDC, was on scene taking photos of the derailment. Huffman reported a battery acid smell and a close-up photo revealed what appears to be significant damage on a car carrying Sulfuric acid.

“There was no danger,” Lotrich said in response to Huffman’s report. “When the derailed car was moved a small leak was discovered by the HAZMAT team that was immediately addressed and contained by BNSF and the HAZMAT team.”

This incident is the second train derailment in Socorro County in the last 12 months.

The last train derailment was in Socorro on March 25 of 2024. On April 18, 2024, four BNSF rail cars carrying grain derailed in Jarales in Valencia County.

Followed by a derailment eight days later, on April 26, 2024, 13 miles from Gallup. In that incident, 35 BNSF rail cars carrying 180,000 gallons of fuel near Interstate 40 derailed and caused a large fire.

(Editor’s note: Russell Huffman, EDC publisher, contributed to this story.)