Cleanup continues along Riverside Drive in Lower Saucon Township, where three trains collided early March 2. Two of the three trains derailed, and cars tumbled down the hillside into the Lehigh River, but there were no reported injuries or hazardous materials leakage as of this reporting.

Norfolk Southern railroad will perform all the cleanup and track repairs, saying in a brief online statement, “We take this incident seriously and work hard to avoid all accidents. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating this incident, and we will work closely with them to understand how it happened and prevent others like it.”

Lower Saucon Township’s Mark Hudson had been in touch with Norfolk Southern, and read a company statement during the March 6 council meeting.

“We appreciate the cooperation of Lower Saucon Township and first responders,” Hudson read. “Norfolk Southern crews and contractors have made substantial progress in cleaning up the site and have moved the derailed equipment to Norfolk Southern property.” He said crews and contractors will remain on-site to contain the remove the small amount of diesel fuel that leaked from train cars.

Seventeen local, county, and federal organizations responded to the emergency, some of which the Press contacted for further information.

Federal Railroad Administration Public Affairs official Victoria Karolenko said in an email, “In addition to working with emergency responders and local authorities, FRA will assist the National Transportation Safety Board, who have sent personnel to the scene, in the investigation. Under FRA’s Accident/Incident Reporting regulations railroads must submit their own reports on the event within 30 days after the month in which they occur.”

NTSB Public Affairs Specialist Sarah Taylor responded to a Press inquiry. “NTSB investigators arrived on scene [March 2] to begin the on-site portion of the investigation. The team began reviewing data from the locomotive event recorders and downloaded data from the wayside signals. They also obtained downloads from the inward and outward facing image recorders on all three trains to send back to NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C. for further analysis. The team also mechanically examined the derailed cars and other train equipment. NTSB continues to collect evidence but has released the site to allow Norfolk Southern to move the rail cars and locomotives and for track repair work to begin.”

NTSB Investigator Ruben Payan reported to Lower Saucon board members March 6 that preliminary information indicates that an eastbound train was stopped at a signal and rear-ended, and three railcars derailed. Minutes later an approaching westbound train struck the derailed equipment, resulting in six cars derailing. Three empty cars were carrying residual ethanol and butane, but they were not breached.

Payan said new track was laid and trains were running again by 8:30 p.m. March 3. A preliminary report will be issued within weeks, while a complete investigation typically takes between 12 and 18 months.