Newsday

Freight Train Derails in Western Pa.

OHIOPYLE, Pa. (AP) -- Five flat cars on a freight train derailed in western Pennsylvania on Thursday, blocking a highway for several hours and canceling two passenger trains.

The CSX Corp. train was traveling from Chicago to Baltimore when it derailed around 8 a.m., about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. No one was injured.

Dan Murphy, a spokesman for Richmond, Va.-based CSX, said two sets of tracks were closed due to the accident. One was scheduled to reopen early Friday, but there was no timetable to reopen the other, he said.

CSX investigators didn't know what caused the crash.

Two Amtrak passenger trains that run between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., were canceled. Those passengers were bused to their destinations, Murphy said.

Amtrak officials did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment on Thursday.

The accident also closed a nearby state highway, which runs parallel to the tracks, for four hours.

The train consisted of 36 flat cars carrying highway trailers and shipline containers. Murphy said the cars that derailed were carrying 15 containers or trailers. One car and a container slid into shallow waters at the edge of the Youghiogheny River, he said.

Murphy said he didn't know exactly what the train was carrying. He did confirm that one of the containers carried chloride, a toxic chemical, but said it did not spill.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), November 23, 2000