Defect Found in Rail Line

A defect in a steel track was the probable cause of a break in the railroad line that sent a Union Pacific cargo train crashing into the backyards of a neighborhood on the edge of Whittier, where distraught residents were allowed Sunday to gather a few belongings from their homes as cleanup continued, rail officials said.

A Union Pacific metallurgist discovered the imperfection in the rail line a few hours after the Saturday-morning derailment, said Mark W. Davis, a spokesman for the railroad. The crash sent boxcars and metal containers lurching into barbecues and garden plots, and caused a quarter-mile mess that was visible from the adjacent 605 Freeway. Four homes were damaged, one deemed uninhabitable, but no one was seriously injured.

A 6-foot rail segment with the defect was being sent to Washington, D.C., to be further analyzed by the National Transportation Safety Board. Davis said he did not know the nature of the defect but ruled out foul play.

The stretch of track, which is shared by Metrolink’s Los Angeles-to-Riverside commuter train, was expected to reopen by Sunday evening. Metrolink spokeswoman Sharon Gavin said commuter trains would be running this morning, although delays were possible.

Davis assured the public that the rail line would be safe.

He said the tracks are inspected visually three times a week by a rail line specialist who drives a special truck outfitted with train wheels on the tracks. As the inspector travels along the rail, he or she feels for bumps and watches for potential problems, Davis said. Repair crews follow to replace problem sections of rail. Any removed sections are sent to analysts for further study, he said.

In addition, tracks are inspected for imperfections using sound-wave technology. Again, a specially outfitted truck drives along the tracks, shooting sound waves into the rail. An on-board computer produces data that give inspectors a picture of any imperfections in the steel.

The derailment site was last inspected visually on Thursday and with sound waves on Sept. 21. Davis said neither inspection found imperfections.

Such testing is the norm on the region’s rail lines, Davis said. And although it is not always perfect, he said, it has greatly reduced the number of derailments from broken lines in the last 20 years.

After analyzing the cause of the defect that apparently triggered Saturday’s derailment, investigators will compare the details to other broken rails to determine whether there are widespread problems, he said.

“The key is to determine why it broke,” Davis said. “Once we know -- was it an imperfection in the casting? a minor break that grew over time? -- you look [for patterns] in other broken-rail derailments.”

Davis said the federal investigation would probably take months. NTSB officials could not be reached for comment.

For residents of this working-class Latino community, the week ahead promised more hassle and, for some, heartbreak. Mangled metal boxes and piles of consumer goods remained heaped behind backyards as work crews hustled to haul them away. On Croton Avenue, which lies in unincorporated county territory, the 25 homes closest to the tracks remained evacuated and without power late Sunday.

Adriana Ocegueda, 19, and her mother, Leticia Ocegueda, learned that their modest ranch home was uninhabitable after a cargo container crashed into it. Authorities had told them that the house’s foundation had been irreparably damaged.

On Sunday afternoon, police wouldn’t let the Ocegueda family enter their home to retrieve a few items for Adriana Ocegueda’s infant daughter, for fear that family members would be injured by downed electrical wires.

“I don’t even want to go back in and see it,” said Leticia Ocegueda, who had lived in the house for 12 years. She said she and her family would stay in a nearby hotel until they could decide their next move.

For Union Pacific, the first order of business Sunday was cleaning up. Three locomotives and 11 boxcars carrying more than 30 containers had derailed. Five containers that held hazardous materials, including battery acid, lighter fluid and paint, were quickly removed. Crews also began cleaning up 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled when a locomotive’s fuel tank separated.

By lunchtime, earthmovers had cleared the railway bed, and work crews had bolted together nearly 1,000 feet of new track. But much of the wreckage remained piled next to the rail bed and in a number of backyards. Giant wheels and axles lay askew like giant, rusted baby rattles, and mangled bits of boxcars were pushed against a berm that elevates the nearby freeway.

The train, which was headed from Los Angeles to Arkansas, had been full of consumer goods that now littered the scene. The Oceguedas’ yard was full of baseballs, party gifts and piles of stiletto-heeled suede boots.

A human chain of workers in hard hats passed the items into a transfer truck one by one, marveling at the contents: a box of DVDs, a carton of welding helmets, a fancy Western saddle.

“Now this is a good one,” said worker Watani Washington, 51. “Look -- lace panties. Hey, that’s Frederick’s of Hollywood!”

As crews worked, some residents were allowed to enter their homes to pick up a few essentials before returning to hotels or relatives’ homes.

Isabel Falcon, 71, cried as she emerged from her immaculate white ranch house using a walker. She recently broke her hip, she said, and had been forced to evacuate without her pain medication. Her house had been spared, but she was worried about her neighbors, the Oceguedas, she said. What would happen to them now that their home was lost?

A few minutes later, a stranger asked Adriana Ocegueda the same question as she waited behind a line of police tape. “I have no idea,” Ocegueda said.