By Drake Lucas
Staff writer
May 13, 2008 05:55 am LAWRENCE — Cleanup crews were still clearing traces of sodium chlorate from train tracks in Lawrence yesterday, four days after a railroad tanker derailed and spilled the oxidizing agent. Pan Am Railways spokeswoman Cynthia Scarano said the cause of the derailment is under investigation, but a faulty switch point is being looked at as the possible cause. She said that after the train car derailed, it was pulled along the tracks as the train stopped. The car was cut open when it hit other train cars parked in the yard. Residents of State and Andover streets were evacuated for more than four hours Thursday night while the potentially dangerous substance was cleared from the tracks. Sodium chlorate, which is used to make chlorine dioxide to bleach paper, is a white powder that can become volatile if it reacts with water or wood. Most of the spilled powder was cleaned up and stored in the train yard in cardboard boxes lined with plastic. Emergency crews returned to the yard on Saturday night when a fire broke out where the chemical was stored. It took firefighters about an hour to get the fire under control. Residents were not evacuated. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Firefighters went back to the tracks on Sunday to put out a few smoldering spots. Scarano said cleanup crews from ENPRO Services Inc. were still at the site yesterday. MBTA trains are running as scheduled, but Pan Am Railways is still repairing the part of the tracks where the car derailed.
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