5 freight cars derail in Pennsylvania; Amtrak disrupted

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Five cars in a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed Tuesday alongside a creek in central Pennsylvania, spilling debris into a waterway and disrupting travel on Amtrak.

Officials said no one was injured and the spill, which occurred around 8:15 a.m. in the borough of Huntingdon, did not involve any hazardous material.

The derailed cars were carrying plastic, pulp board, dried potatoes and peas, a Norfolk Southern spokesman said.

Booms were placed in Standing Stone Creek to collect floating material that was described by a deputy fire chief as pelletized plastic waste. The derailment occurred just upstream from where the creek feeds into the Juniata River.

The train with 75 loaded cars, 10 empty cars and two locomotives was headed east from Altoona to Harrisburg.

Amtrak said one train between New York and Pittsburgh was cancelled. A second was stopped in Altoona, where passengers were put on a bus to Harrisburg and transferred to another train.

Huntingdon is about 120 miles (193 kilometres) east of Pittsburgh.

Norfolk Southern said the cause was still under investigation.