Trio of Norfolk Southern trains involved in eastern Pennsylvania collision

March 2 (UPI) -- Three Norfolk Southern trains were involved in a collision in eastern Pennsylvania early Saturday with two engines ending up in the Lehigh River near Allentown, authorities confirmed.

The National Transportation Safety Board and local officials told reporters the incident in Lower Saucon Township along the river began when an eastbound train struck a stopped train on the same track.

The wreckage spilled over onto the adjacent track, which derailed a third train heading west.

Photos the Nancy Run Fire Company posted to Facebook showed two engines partially submerged in the river, with multiple cars off the track.

The wreckage spilled diesel fuel and some polypropylene pellets into the river. Lower Saucon Police Chief Thomas Brandt said the wreck did not present a hazardous material threat, and no evacuations are in order.

No one was injured in the collisions, although first responders assisted crew members to climb up the steep banks of the river.

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said the county's emergency management unit and the Lehigh County hazmat team were on site providing support.

Norfolk Southern in a post on X said it had responded to the incident and confirmed there were no injuries and no threats to public safety.

"We are always working to advance safety. We will investigate this incident to understand how it happened and prevent others like it," the post read.

Norfolk Southern achieved infamy last year when one of its trains derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling hazardous chemicals into the community and prompting residents to evacuate. The cleanup is expected to continue into the summer.

McClure said Northampton County Emergency Management held three emergency responder training sessions on train derailments in response to the East Palestine incident.

"We are very pleased that this derailment was so quickly and expertly handled. I want to thank all of the first responders for that," McClure said.

Former township councilwoman Donna Louder told the The (Lehigh Valley) Express-Times she believed it was inevitable an incident like this would happen.

"Norfolk Southern needs to get its act together," she said.