3 NS trains collide and derail near Bethlehem, PA

[AmtrakMaineiac]

https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/be...sRlNvilwvQ4.gZmFLgMTbhpDyEd1EKuvDVNqPyBSJIxjw

Link includes a press conference by local officials.

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 Brandt said the derailment presented no hazardous material threat to the community and that no evacuations were required.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Some updates:
The 2 eastbound trains that initially collided were both intermodals. The westbound train that hit the wreckage was a mixed freight. Presumably that is where the tank cars and the cars carrying plastic pellets that spilled into the river came from.

NTSB is on the scene and is checking event data recorders and cameras and other data. Two locomotives that ended up on the river bank almost into the river have been secured and NS has begun track work after the site was released back to them by the NTSB.