Multiple rail cars derailed at the Hill to Hill Bridge in Bethlehem on Friday afternoon.
A photo taken at the scene showed multiple cars derailed on a rail bridge that crosses the Lehigh River, before the track crosses under the Hill to Hill Bridge on the city’s South Side. The cars appeared to be empty.
A Norfolk Southern spokesperson said the derailment happened around 2:40 p.m. and involved several rail cars, none of which had been carrying hazardous materials. There were no injuries.
No further details were immediately available on what caused the derailment.
Bethlehem officials said in a news release that Norfolk Southern personnel were on scene. Bethlehem fire officials who responded said they found four or five rail cars derailed, including two or three cars on the rail bridge, and two off the tracks at the end of the bridge.
Neither the river nor the Hill to Hill Bridge, which carries Route 378, were impacted by the derailment, according to city officials.
The train, which was traveling eastbound, consisted of 125 rail cars with two cars containing hazardous materials, but those were not near the derailed cars, officials said. No injuries have been reported, and no roads or crossings were blocked. City police also assisted.
Several rail cars derailed on the same stretch of track in September 2022. There were no injuries in that crash, but clearing the scene took an “extended timeframe.”
Earlier this year, a collision and derailment involving three Norfolk Southern trains along the Lehigh River in Lower Saucon Township sent two locomotives partially into the water. Seven crew members were injured in the March 2 incident, which caused an estimated $2.5 million in damages.
