LehighValleyNews.com | By Ryan Gaylor
Published March 3, 2024
Bethlehem News
A Norfolk Southern worker disassembles tracks Sunday morning near a derailment in Lower Saucon Twp.
LOWER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board continued work Sunday to determine why three freight trains collided and derailed near Steel City on Saturday morning.
Shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday, an eastbound freight train operated by Norfolk Southern hit another train stopped on the same tracks, according to the NTSB.
“The area where the locomotives were in the water will remain contained with booms until any residual sheen has been removed."
Norfolk Southern spokesperson
The collision pushed several railcars onto neighboring tracks and into the path of an oncoming westbound train.
NTSB investigators arrived in Lower Saucon on Saturday afternoon, according to agency spokeswoman Sarah Sulick. In addition to mechanically examining the derailed cars, officials retrieved video from inward- and outward-facing cameras on each train, operations and control data from recorders in each locomotive, and logs stored by trackside signals.
The team of investigators is made up of “experts in train operations, signals and train control, and human performance,” she wrote in a statement.
By Sunday morning, the NTSB had released control of the site to Norfolk Southern, freeing crews to pull two locomotives from the river bank and partially in the Lehigh River.
Cleanup crews with a Norfolk Southern subcontractor, Lewis Environmental, were visible working near yellow floating booms in the water to contain spilled diesel fuel.
Courtesy
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Nancy Run Fire CompanyTrain engines on the bank of the Lehigh River, partially submerged, after a derailment Saturday, March 2, 2024, off Riverside Drive in Lower Saucon Township.
Ryan Gaylor
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LehighValleyNews.ComTwo divots are visible along the Lehigh River Sunday morning where a pair of locomotives came to rest after derailing.
“The area where the locomotives were in the water will remain contained with booms until any residual sheen has been removed,” a Norfolk Southern spokesperson wrote in an email.
Plastic pellets also spilled into the river, Lower Saucon Police Chief Thomas Barndt said Saturday, but there was no risk of hazardous material being released by the derailment.
No injuries were reported as a result of the collision.
Norfolk Southern crews were working to remove the tracks affected by the derailment, stacking them along the side of the right-of-way.
NTSB investigators will remain in the Lehigh Valley for several more days, Sulick said, chiefly to interview Norfolk Southern crew members involved in the crash.
Cleanup to take days, cause a year or two
Cleanup is likely to take several days, officials said yesterday.
The NTSB will release a preliminary report on the accident in about three weeks, to include "factual information gathered during the initial phase of the investigation," said Sulick. A final report laying out exactly what caused the accident will take one to two years.
“We were very, very, very fortunate.”
Lower Saucon Township Council President Priscilla deLeon
While each investigation is different, NTSB personnel are typically on site for about a week.
Riverside Drive will remain closed east of Steel City while the wreckage is cleared, Lower Saucon Township Council President Priscilla deLeon said.
That gives residents only one way in and out of town.
DeLeon said she has long worried that a train carrying hazardous materials would crash near Steel City.
“We were very, very, very fortunate,” she said, that none of the railcars thrown from their tracks Saturday were carrying dangerous cargo.
Staff writer Tom Shortell contributed to this report.
NTSB Investigating NS Collision, Derailment in Pennsylvania (UPDATED)
“Rescue Engine 1413 is currently on scene with a train derailment in the area of Riverside Dr. in Lower Saucon. It is reported there are no injuries, with train cars into the river. Lower Saucon Fire Rescue and Northampton County Emergency Management Services are working with multiple local and state agencies on this incident,” the Nancy Run Fire Company of Bethlehem, Pa., reported early March 2 on Facebook. (Photograph Courtesy of Nancy Run Fire Company, via Facebook)
Three Norfolk Southern (NS) trains were involved in a derailment March 2 just east of Steel City, Pa., along the Lehigh River. There were no reported injuries to crews. An eastbound train collided with a stopped train on the same track, and the wreckage that spilled onto an adjacent track was struck by a westbound train, according to preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), media outlets said. It was not immediately known how many cars derailed. The Lower Saucon Township Police Department reported there were no evacuations or hazardous material threat to the community.
Emergency personnel were dispatched at 7:15 a.m., according to the Department. Railcars were on the riverbank and at least one locomotive was partially in the water. (See photos below.)
Diesel fuel spilled into the river and containment booms were deployed, the Department reported. “Norfolk Southern called it a small diesel fuel leak ‘common when locomotives are involved’ that was contained with the booms and would be ‘vacuumed out,’” according to the Associated Press.
Polypropylene plastic pellets also spilled from one derailed car, and an NS spokesperson told CBS News Philadelphia that the pellets landed “predominantly onto the ground.”
NS is on site and reported via social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that it is assessing the scene with first responders. “We appreciate the quick, professional response by local emergency agencies,” the Class I railroad said. “Our crews and contractors will remain on-scene over the coming days to cleanup, and we appreciate the public’s patience while they work as quickly, thoroughly and as safely as possible. We are always working to advance safety. We will investigate this incident to understand how it happened and prevent others like it.”
“We are very pleased that this derailment was so quickly and expertly handled. I want to thank all of the first responders for that,” said Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, according to LehighValleyNews.com.
The Federal Railroad Administration said via social media that its safety personnel was working with emergency responders and local authorities on the scene.
Among the other responding agencies: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Fish Commission, Northampton County Emergency Management, Lower Saucon Fire and Rescue, Bethlehem Township Volunteer Company, Freemansburg Fire Company, Dewey Fire and EMS, and Lehigh County Special Ops Team.
NTSB Investigation
The NTSB will release a preliminary report in three weeks, CBS News Philadelphia reported March 3.
It has started “reviewing data from the trains’ event recorders and other evidence and has collected some information to send to Washington, D.C., to be analyzed,” the media outlet said. The investigators also examined the derailed cars and other train equipment, according to the NTSB.
“Investigators are expected to work at the site for several more days, speaking with crew members and gathering other information to determine what caused the crash. Although they are still collecting evidence, NTSB officials said they have released the site so Norfolk Southern can begin to move the cars and repair the tracks.”
The final NTSB report, detailing the probable cause of the collision and derailment, is expected in one-to-two years, according to the NTSB, CBS News Philadelphia reported.
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