(The following story by Terrie Morgan-Besecker appeared on the Wilkes Barre Times Leader website on April 12.)
JENKINS TWP., Pa. — A 10-car train derailment dumped tons of powdered clay onto the tracks near Laflin Road on Sunday night, but an emergency management official said there was no danger to the public.
The cars derailed on the Canadian Pacific Railway line at around 6:30 p.m. as the 96-car train came upon a bend in the tracks at Laflin Road behind Offset Paperback warehouses. No one was injured.
Lt. Jim Nardone of the Jenkins Township Fire Department said the cause of the derailment was not known Sunday night. Officials are investigating if a weight differential between front-end cars and rear-end cars may be to blame, Nardone said.
“The lighter cars, they’re not supposed to put too many in a row. When the train goes around a corner, the lighter cars lift off the tracks, causing it to derail. They’re not sure if that is the case this time or if it was the track.”
The derailment is the second train wreck to occur in the area of Laflin Road and Market Street in the past 15 months. In November 2002, 18 cars jumped the tracks. Two of the cars were filled with liquid propane, prompting officials to call for a voluntary evacuation of the area.
Al Bardar, director of the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency, said EMA and the state Department of Environmental Protection responded to Sunday’s derailment. Officials determined the powdered clay posed no health risk to the public, but DEP will do a follow-up to determine if there is any environmental impact.
Nardone said the derailment caused the closure of several roads at rail crossings: Main Street in the Shantytown section of Jenkins Township, Market Street in Laflin, and Laflin road in Jenkins Township. It was not known when the roads would reopen.
Canadian Pacific is handling all aspects of the derailment, including cleanup, securing the scene and realigning the train cars, Nardone said.
In addition Jenkins Township Fire, emergency crews that responded to the scene were: Laflin Fire Department, Pittston City Ambulance, Pittston Township Fire Department and Pittston Township ambulance.