Train derailment in Harmar expected to last through holiday weekend, road and river traffic halted
Cleanup of the train derailment in Harmar on Thursday is expected to shut down traffic on a section of Freeport Road as well as boat traffic on the adjacent Allegheny River throughout the Memorial Day weekend.
Three people were hospitalized after a heavy-construction vehicle carrying stone collided with a Norfolk Southern train near the sewage treatment plant in Harmar on Thursday shortly before 4 p.m.
Authorities said 17 cars derailed. Allegheny County officials updated earlier numbers late Thursday to say nine of them went off a railroad bridge and into Guys Run. The spot is near the Allegheny Valley Joint Sewage Authority treatment plant, where the construction truck was headed, just upriver from the Hulton Bridge.
Two of the cars that remained on land were leaking an oil product, while others had been “secured,” a county spokeswoman said.
Of the nine cars in the creek, four are oil tankers while the other five are “buffer” cars used for safety.
The closures
Freeport Road is expected to continue to be closed in both directions in that area for several days to allow for the cleanup, which is going to be a 24/7 operation, the county reported late Thursday.
Traffic being detoured to Powers Run Road/Fox Chapel Road on the O’Hara (downriver) side and to Guys Run Road on the Harmar side, according to PennDOT.
Traffic crossing the Hulton Bridge from Oakmont is being directed toward O’Hara.
River traffic is halted on the Allegheny River from the wreck site to The Point in Pittsburgh. That closure, made by the U.S. Coast Guard, “is expected to remain in place until all materials are removed from the area.” It is being done as a precaution, as some oil is leaking into to river.
The county said state and federal cleanup agencies present at the site “expect the cleanup will take several days, probably lasting throughout the holiday weekend.”
How it happened
Allegheny Valley Regional Emergency Management Agency coordinator Bruno Moretti said those injured included two train operators and the truck driver, who was crossing the tracks to get to the plant.
Their condition was unavailable. There is signage, but no warning lights or railroad arms to block traffic where the truck was crossing.
“It’s not a citizens’ normal crossing area,” Moretti said. “That is just used to get across to the sewage plant.”
Some heavy machinery being moved around to help remove railroad cars that were derailed in Harmar Township pic.twitter.com/2FNer1ZXHM
— Mike D. (@MikeJdiVittorio) May 27, 2022
Allegheny County Emergency Services Assistant Chief Steve Imbarlina said several of the derailed cars were carrying sweet crude oil. Others were either empty or carrying plastic pellets used as buffers when hauling combustible materials such as crude oil.
The rail cars can carry about 30,000 gallons of crude each.
“We have the river boomed,” Imbarlina said. “We’ve notified the intakes of the water authorities downstream. ”
A boom is a floating piece of plastic used to contain things floating on water’s surface.
“It sort of looks like a balloon floating on water, kind of like what makes lanes for swimmers, except a liquid can’t get past it,” Imbarlina said.
An Allegheny County hazmat team, state Department of Environmental Protection, state Fish & Boat Commission as well as the Federal Railroad Administration responded to the scene.
Moretti said water service was cut off for Harmar for about two hours after a main waterline was severed in connection with the crash. That service has been restored.
Norfolk Southern, contractors go to work
Crews from Washington-based R.J. Corman Railroad Services arrived with heavy machinery to lift the derailed cars.
Representatives from Norfolk Southern railroad also responded to the scene.
The company issued a brief statement: “Late this afternoon, an eastbound train struck a dump truck carrying stone, which caused a derailment. Thank you to the first responders who assisted our crew members. At this time, our personnel are on-site and working with authorities to determine next steps.”
The company gave no timetable.
Allegheny County’s Imbarlina said, “All cleaned up and done with could take weeks.”
An update from Allegheny Co. Emergency Management Services - tankers were carrying sweet crude oil, the other cars were buffer cars @TribLIVE @VNDNews pic.twitter.com/VXksZEMLHl
— Shane Dunlap (@shanedunlap) May 26, 2022
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