Las Vegas NowRunaway Railcar Barrels Through Las Vegas

Runaway Railcar Barrels Through Las Vegas

A runaway rail car barreled 22 miles through Las Vegas Wednesday morning, hitting a top speed of 50 miles-per-hour before being stopped.

The tank car was full of chlorine, a potentially fatal chemical, when Union Pacific employees noticed the car had broken free from a rail yard on Arden Road near Blue Diamond around 9 a.m. The workers had been moving it to another track when it got away from them.

Union Pacific Railroad officials say no one was hurt and there was no damage or leak of chlorine during the incident.

Read official statement from Union Pacific

Witnesses reported seeing the railroad tank car rolling along the tracks which are parallel to I-15, behind the Las Vegas Strip corridor.

Full of chlorine, the car rolled past the west side of the Las Vegas Strip where hundreds of thousands of tourists were visiting. It went right behind the Mirage, Fashion Show Mall, and Circus Circus.

The tank car continued rolling north at speeds of up to 50 miles-per-hour according to Union Pacific. It finally slowed down 20 miles away in North Las Vegas near Lamb and Centennial.

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says the company notified the Department of Transportation and Homeland Security about the runaway car. He also explained why it moved so fast.

"It's like a bowl effect, so the railcar literally rolled on its own down the hill. Gravity took over, brought it down the hill," said Davis.

The tank car had chlorine in it. Chlorine is a potentially deadly chemical. Clark County HAZMAT crews say if it's inhaled, it fills the lungs with liquid, choking victims. None of the chlorine leaked out of the tank car.

If chlorine had leaked out, under HAZMAT regulations, a mile radius around the tank car would have been evacuated.

Nobody was hurt.

Email your comments to Reporter Edward Lawrence.