Train Derailment
HOUSTON -- A Union Pacific freight train derailed Monday, temporarily shutting down South Main/Highway 90 in both directions.
Twenty-nine cars left the tracks, spilling petroleum coke -- sometimes used to make coal -- along the southbound lanes of South Main near Hiram Clarke.
The cars were also carrying everything from vehicles to chemicals, including ammonium nitrate.
Area residents were advised to shelter in place shortly after the 11 a.m. accident. Children and staff members at the Imami School in the 12400 block of South Post Oak were kept inside as a precaution.
The shelter-in-place advisory was later lifted after HFD's Hazmat team determined there was no danger.
"This is obviously something that we want to prevent at all times and right now we are in the process of cleaning it up, and also gathering facts to find out exactly what happened so we can prevent that from happening in the future," said Union Pacific spokeswoman Rachel Espinosa-Williams.
No injuries were reported.
All northbound lanes and two southbound lanes of South Main/Highway 90 reopened Monday afternoon. It's expected to be Tuesday before the other two southbound lanes are cleared.
