PITTSBURGH — Trains were running Sunday following a derailment in Pittsburgh that stopped railroad traffic and temporarily closed a section of West Carson Street.
Five cars on a Norfolk Southern Railway line slipped off the tracks in the city’s Esplen neighborhood near the 2800 block of West Carson between Telford Street and a railroad bridge that crosses the Ohio River. Motor traffic was temporarily blocked between the Corliss Tunnel and Stanhope Street in McKees Rocks.
Pittsburgh Public Safety officials said no one was injured. It remained unclear what caused the accident.
Norfolk Southern said the empty steel cars skidded to a stop in a straight line.
“There is no hazardous material involved, and the cars are upright,” the company said in a statement. “(Our) crews and contractors are onsite and have begun clearing the cars.”
The derailment occurred between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Saturday. First responders arrived at about 1 p.m. to assist in the cleanup and manage traffic. The road closure was lifted late Saturday as the work continued.
The Norfolk Southern derailment was the company’s third in two months, including the February disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, involving 50 train cars that spilled hazardous materials and forced the evacuation of residents. Late last year the company announced its trains had sustained 32% fewer derailments than in the previous decade, and recently announced a new six-point safety plan.
KDKA reported the National Transportation Safety Board was not investigating the Pittsburgh derailment individually or as part of an ongoing special investigation into Norfolk Southern’s organization and safety culture.
In 2022, some 1,160 train derailments were reported in the U.S., at a rate of about three per day, according to federal safety data.
———
