Union Pacific forced to clean up train derailment near Green Valley that spilled acid | News

GREEN VALLEY, Ariz. (KVOA) — A massive train derailment is forcing Union Pacific Railroad to clean up a big mess in Green Valley. 

The company says this happened sometime after 10:30 Friday morning.

Union Pacific says at least 24 train cars derailed near Green Valley. 

The train cars derailed south of Continental road and east of Interstate 19. 

When Santa Rita firefighters got a call about this they went straight to hazmat mode. 

News 4 Tucson asked a Union Pacific worker at the scene what the white powder substance was near a trail along Camino de La Canoa and he said he could not tell us.

Another substance that leaked from this derailment was sulfuric acid, but Union Pacific says they are neutralizing the acid and based on quick response the leak did not get into the waterways and it is not impacting the air quality. 

The train was reportedly coming from Mexico and was loaded with various items. 

No word yet on what caused this train to derail. 

“We were very fortunate because where this happened was south of any of our traffic lanes, had this happened further north say 10 miles it would have created a situation. But where this took place no there was no problems with traffic,” said Lt. Pratt, a Santa Rita Fire spokesman.

Santa Rita fire spokesman Lt. Pratt tells News 4 Tucson he thinks it is going to take at least two weeks to clean all this mess up. Nobody was hurt.