(Philadelphia television station NBC10 posted the following article on its website on January 2.)
LOWER MERION, Pa. — A landslide caused a freight train to derail on a track that runs parallel to the Schuylkill Expressway in Lower Merion Township on Tuesday morning, according to officials.
Crews were cleaning up all day and trying to collect about 1,600 gallons of spilled diesel fuel from the Norfolk Southern freight train derailment just west of the City Avenue Bridge.
“We had a landslide from above a retaining wall that gave way. (It) came down on the tracks,” Lower Merion Fire Department Chief Charles McGarvey said.
It was still dark at 3:45 a.m. when two engines and four empty boxcars derailed in very tight quarters.
“It’s a 54-car train,” McGarvey said. “There are seven full hazmat vehicles. … none of them have been punctured or any of that.”
No hazardous materials spilled and no one was injured.
The Schuylkill Expressway was 30 feet above, and the Schuylkill River just below, and the mishap slowed Interstate 76 traffic during morning rush hour.
Right after the train ran off of the tracks, crews closed a lane on a portion of the I-76 westbound, causing a major traffic backup on westbound Schuylkill Expressway lanes approaching the Belmont Avenue exit during the early-morning rush.
A PECO Transmission Tower by the derailment was a concern. The twin 64,000-volt lines carry power to Roxboro. The tower was found to be safe.
And, as a precaution, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation workers inspected the base of the Schuylkill Expressway above the derailment not far from the water tower overlooking Manayunk.
“Fortunately, there’s no problem as far as the Schuylkill, as far as erosion.But we’re going to need to monitor throughout, to see if there’s going to be a problem,” said Harold Windisch, with PennDOT.
Late Tuesday, the twin 220,000-pound diesel locomotives and the boxcars were up-righted. But the track repairs were still under way.