L. SAUCON TWP., Pa. — A morning derailment Saturday involving three trains scrambled emergency response crews from across the Lehigh Valley to Steel City, where multiple rail cars are partially submerged in the Lehigh River.
The derailment was caused by an eastbound train that struck a stopped train on the same track just outside Bethlehem, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Wreckage from that crash spilled onto an adjacent rail, and a westbound train struck the wreckage.
The NTSB said an unknown number of cars derailed and federal investigators are expected to arrive later Saturday.
At an 11 a.m. news conference, Lower Saucon Police Chief Thomas Barndt said the derailment presented no hazardous material threat to the community and that no evacuations were required.
No one on the trains was injured, though emergency crews deployed ropes to assist the train crews up the steep banks of the river, he said.
"We request at this time that everyone stay out of the area and allow the first responders and Norfolk Southern to assess and continue to work the scene," Barndt said.
Authorities were alerted to the derailment off Riverside Drive at 7:15 a.m. and found multiple cars off the tracks just east of Steel City.
Barndt said the derailment spilled diesel fuel and polypropylene plastic pellets into the river. Local response teams have deployed containment booms to limit the spread of the fuel, he said.
The rails are owned and operated by Norfolk Southern, which did not have a representative at the news conference. A company spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the derailment. However, Norfolk Southern acknowledged the crash in a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
"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," the company said in the post.
Photos of the scene showed several rail cars askew but the number thrown from the tracks was not immediately known, Barndt said.
UPDATE: There is no threat to the public, no hazardous material concerns from the railcars, and no reports of injuries to our crew members. We appreciate the quick, professional response by local emergency agencies.
— Norfolk Southern (@nscorp) March 2, 2024
Our crews and contractors will remain on-scene over the coming…
Norfolk Southern, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Fish and Wildlife Commission, Northampton County Emergency Management, Lower Saucon Fire Rescue, Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Company and the Lehigh County Special Operations Division are among the organizations that responded, Barndt said.
Public officials have been keyed in to the dangers of train derailments since a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, just across the border from Pennsylvania. That train was carrying hazardous chemicals that were released and then burned by first responders attempting to avoid an explosion. Locals there were forced to evacuate, and the clean up is expected to last into the summer.
Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said East Palestine prompted Northampton County Emergency Management to hold three training sessions on train derailments for local emergency response teams.
"We are very pleased that this derailment was so quickly and expertly handled. I want to thank all of the first responders for that," McClure said.
"There is no danger to the general public from this train derailment at this time and we do not expect there to be one."
Wreck heard miles away
Donna Louder said she makes breakfast for her husband Saturday mornings as he comes home from his night shift. But as they were sitting down to scrambled eggs, sausage and potatoes around 7:15 a.m., a massive boom rattled their home two blocks from the Steel City Fire Station.
More booms in quick succession — like something falling down stairs — quickly followed, she said.
"My first thought was that it was a plane crash," said Louder, a former township councilwoman. "But my husband said, 'No, that was a train derailment.'"
Louder said trains routinely pass through Steel City. Between awful strange smells and billowing black smoke they often emit, she felt it was inevitable that an incident like this would happen.
"Norfolk Southern needs to get its act together," she said.
McClure, who lives two miles away in Bethlehem Township, said he heard the crash and immediately knew there had been a train derailment.
"We were lucky. We were very, very lucky," he said before the news conference got underway.
The rail line was shut down and cleanup likely would take several days, officials said.
