NTSB Sheds Some Light on NS Derailment
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
Photograph Courtesy of Nancy Run Fire Company, via Facebook
LOWER SAUCON TOWNSHIP, Pa. –– As Railway Age reported on March 2, there was a three-train derailment on Norfolk Southern's line just east of Steel City, Pa. along the Lehigh River.
Here is a brief recap of RA’s report:
“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.”
According to WFMZ televsion news in Allentown, Pa., Ruben Payan, an NTSB member who is leading the investigation of this incident, addressed town officials yesterday evening and provided a few additional details around the accident. One of the key questions that was put to Mr. Payan was how could the accident could have happened with positive train control (PTC) in place. Payan said that the trains were not going fast enough to to meet the threshold for PTC to activate. He said at the speed they were traveling, “the system no longer maintains train separations.”
Payan added that the accident happened very quickly, in under a minute. He said that one eastbound train was stopped, holding for a signal, then an eastbound intermodal train rear-ended the stopped train. Three intermodal cars landed on the adjacent track moments before a westbound train hit those cars, and the two locomotives pulling the westbound derailed, fell into the river and river bank, and derailed six cars of its own train.
