On January 6, 2005, at 2:40am (Eastern Standard Time) in Graniteville, South Carolina, a speeding Norfolk Southern Railway freight train plowed into a diesel locomotive (also belonging to Norfolk Southern Railway) parked at a siding near Avondale Mills plant.

The freight train was hauling 42 freight cars, of which, 16 overturned in the collision.

The train was hauling hazardous materials amongest it's cargo.

The hazardous materials involved were sodium hydroxide (corrosive and toxic hazard-UN number 1823) and cresol(poisonous and flammable material-UN number 2076).

But the true star of this disaster and most dangerous of all were the three tanker cars marked with UN number 1017.

Almost ever HAZMAT technician in the U.S. knows by heart the chemical that UN1017 represents.

Chlorine.

Long the bane of the HAZMAT technician's existance, chlorine was also present at the train disaster. The freight train had three tanker cars filled with 90 tons of chlorine.

One of those tanker cars ruptured and released it's contents into the early morning but still dark sky over Granitville.

Chlorine is usually transported as a pressurized liquid but when it is exposed to air it becomes a gas that takes on a color ranging from greenish-yellow or amber.

The gas is extremely dangerous.

Emergency responders evacuated 5,400 people living in a one mile radius of the accident scene.

The accident and the huge chlorine cloud required a massive response that taxed not just the resources of Graniteville and surrounding towns but even the state government of South Carolina itself.

The incident quickly became a leading story on national news outlets.

HAZMAT teams from the federal government as well as one from the state of Georgia responded.

The Chlorine Institute which maintains a HAZMAT team specifically trained to deal with chlorine emergencies anywhere in the U.S., dispatched their team.

When it was all over nine people were dead and 250 were hospitalized.

It took HAZMAT teams two weeks to decontaminate the site enough to allow evacuated residents back in. Up until that time it was a 'no man's land' for anyone without a Level A suit.

Findings by the FRA and the NTSB lay fault with an incorrectly aligned railroad switch.

The Graniteville Train Disaster is considered the worst industrial/freight train accident in U.S. history.

MetaMedia has based a large amount of their HAZMAT training material on this disaster.

The video contains some portions of calls made to emergency dispatchers from frantic residents. Some of the calls are chilling as they request help for loved ones or themselves as they are trapped in the massive chlorine cloud (or plume if you want to be technical).

From MetaMedia:
Each day in the United States, roughly 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials travel across our railways, often through densely populated areas where the consequences of accidental release can result in widespread health problems, injury, environmental damage, and even death. Targeted toward incident commanders, first responders, and hazardous materials technicians involved in rescue and cleanup operations, Lessons Learned from Graniteville prepares them for a more efficient and effective response to the extraordinary challenges they face.

Based on the Norfolk Southern railroad derailment that released more than 11,000 gallons of chlorine gas in Graniteville, South Carolina in January 2005, this program brings a catastrophic accident to life in the classroom as part of a facilitated, small-group training exercise. Highly interactive and engaging, it offers a level of class participation using advanced DVD technologies that far surpass any other training method available today.

To learn more about MetaMedia, follow this link to their official website - http://www.metamediausa.com