What caused the train to explode that derailed in Shepherdsville, KY this past January?

Question

I dont know what was on the train that was so flammable, but I was wondering if it was some kind of oil or what.

Answer 1

http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSa...

at the bottom of the page you will see a lot of letters and numbers.  these are railcar reporting marks and the figures that you see that say:STCC####### are what are called 'stick' codes.  Standard Transportation Commodity Codes.  These codes tell generally what each preceding car was carrying.

I do not have available at this time a link that will break down those codes for you but those codes in which the 1st two numbers are "48" are hazardous waste and/or hazardous materials

Answer 2

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2439...

The chairman of the NTSB was on the scene.

http://www.ntsb.gov/Abt_NTSB/bios/rosenk...

The NTSB is a government agency which does very deep analytic investigations of transport accidents, you know, they're the guys in the white suits in the hangar full of charred airplane parts trying to put the airplane back together.  Give them another year and they'll have detailed and insightful report on *exactly* what happened.   Don't expect the media to report it, their attention span is too short.