Overturned Propane Tanker Now Stands Upright At Manatee Train Tracks

Updated: 11:30 p.m., Thursday

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Seminole Gulf Railway crews working to clean up the site of a seven-car train derailment in Manatee County got an overturned propane tanker standing upright on new wheels Thursday night.

They'll move the derailed tanker from the site on Friday morning, the Manatee County Public Safety Department shared in a Facebook post.

Five railcars carrying Sheetrock and two tankers hauling 30,000 gallons of propane each went off the tracks in the 7200 block of 16th Street East, near Tallevast Road, on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The railcars and one propane tanker completely overturned during the derailment.

Related Stories:

• 'No Safety Concerns' At 7-Car Train Derailment Site: Manatee Official
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The uprighting of the tanker is a “delicate procedure” that was “done at night to reduce any potential risk for persons who work or attend schools in the areas surrounding the derailment site,” the county said in a news release.

Manatee County Public Safety, Southern Manatee Fire & Rescue and Manatee County Sheriff’s Office workers were at the scene to monitor the process.

During the operation, 15th Street East between Tallevast Road and Whitfield Avenue were temporarily closed Thursday night, the county said.

Drivers were asked to avoid the area overnight Thursday, even though the tanker is standing upright, the Bradenton Police Department posted on

The Seminole Gulf Railway train was only traveling 5 mph on “old track” through Manatee County when it derailed Tuesday morning, Robert Fay, the company’s vice president, said.

The age and condition of the tracks are among "the reasons we operate at a slow speed,” Fay told Patch during a news conference at the site. “There are other parts of the railroad that are rated for 35 mph.”

While he couldn’t specify the age of the tracks, Fay said that decades earlier, the railways used them to bring passengers to the circus in Sarasota County.

Over the years, portions of the tracks have been replaced, he added.

“You can't replace all of it all at once. There's not enough millions in anybody's pocket to replace all of it. You replace it in sections and in projects and do the worst parts that are first,” he said. “And that's standard, whether it's a highway project, a railroad project, you know, whether it's the dikes in Orleans, whatever. I mean, all these things that hit the public eye, they're all, you know, infrastructure things. They all need to be maintained. Some are maintained by private entities, like us; others are maintained by government agencies. Those fail too, you know? It's not us; it's we. It really is a we, right? Because we're a private infrastructure that's to the public benefit.”

The exact cause of the derailment isn’t known yet, but the tracks are inspected weekly, Fay said.

The overturned cars and tanker should be cleaned up by early next week.

The biggest concerns during the clean-up at the derailment site surrounds the overturned propane tanker, but there’s a “very low chance of explosion,” Steve Litschauer, Manatee County’s deputy director of public safety.

There was no release of propane from the tanker, which has several layers of insulation to protect the gas, Fay said.

The propane is “the same as your Blue Rhino gas grill, you know, your backyard barbecue,” he said.

Since there was no leak, the tanker will simply be uprighted and moved from the site.

The massive Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released pollutants into the environment, was on everyone’s mind as the railway company and fire crews responded to Tuesday’s derailment in Manatee County, Fire Chief Robert Bounds, Southern Manatee Fire & Rescue, told Patch.

“Regardless of what happened in Ohio, whenever you deal with 30,000 gallons of liquid propane, there’s an unknown factor with potential for what could happen,” the fire chief said. “That’s our business.”

Fay called the timing of the Manatee County derailment — just weeks after the Ohio incident — “unfortunate.”

“This is nothing like Ohio. I feel horrible for the people in Ohio and Pennsylvania,” he said, adding, “These are not that kind of chemical, even. This is propane. That was vinyl chloride. That falls in the same category as ammonia. This is literally your backyard propane.”

The East Palestine derailment has put a national spotlight on similar incidents, he said. “If Ohio hadn’t happened, you all wouldn’t be here. There’s absolutely a national focus on it.”

U.S. House Rep. Vern Buchanan, who toured the derailment site Thursday morning, said that while “we don’t have all the facts,” yet he promised to push for an investigation and report on the matter.

“I’m going to stay on it like a bulldog with our team,” he said.