Freight Train Derails Along Lehigh River

Several freight train cars derailed onto the banks of the Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, in Pennsylvania on Saturday, spilling diesel fuel and plastic pellets into the water, the authorities said.

Northampton County Emergency Management Services and the Lehigh County hazardous materials team responded to the derailment in Lower Saucon Township, Pa., about 10 miles east of Allentown, and were evaluating the damage.

There were “no evacuations, no injuries and no leaks from any containers,” Northampton County said on its Facebook page.

Pictures of the derailment, which occurred around 7:15 a.m., shared on social media show two locomotives on the banks of the river, one of them partially submerged, and several container cars derailed.

“Some of the cars that were derailed were marked as holding hazardous material, but they were empty,” Lamont McClure, the county executive, told television station WFMZ. “Air monitoring is being conducted. All is at normal levels and there is no danger to the general public at this time.”

Diesel fuel and polypropylene plastic pellets spilled into the Lehigh River, the Lower Saucon police chief, Thomas Barndt, said at a news conference. Containment booms were set up to capture the spill. The chief said it was unclear what caused the derailment.

Members of the train crew were stranded on the river bank and were helped with ropes to climb the riverbank up to the road, Chief Barndt said.

Norfolk Southern, which owns the Lehigh Line, a major freight railroad route that snakes through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Residents said on social media that they were awakened to what they thought was the sound of thunder.

The Lehigh River provides drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people, and as a tributary of the Delaware River, it contributes to a drinking water supply for 15 million people, according to American Rivers, an environmental nonprofit.

In January, Norfolk Southern agreed to join a federal safety reporting program after scrutiny of the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023. In that crash, dozens of freight cars carrying hazardous materials derailed and caught fire, enveloping the city with toxic smoke and contaminating drinking water supplies.

From 2018 to 2022, Northampton County recorded 26 rail accidents or incidents resulting in 13 reported injuries and no fatalities, according to a hazardous mitigation plan.

The Lehigh Valley, an historically agricultural region, has been developing in recent years into a hub for warehouses.