Norfolk Southern Railway responds to derailment in Harrisburg; approximately ten cars involved

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Crews hope to have the scene of a train derailment in the capital city cleaned up by Sunday afternoon. A Norfolk Southern Railway spokesperson said the derailment happened just after 3 p.m. Saturday as a train was travelling near Harrisburg. The spokesperson says initial assessments indicate about ten cars derailed. It was bound for Enola, coming from Roanoke, Virginia. (abc27 News) The Dauphin County Hazardous Materials Response Team was initially called and was cancelled en route. “There are no reports of a hazmat situation or danger to the public,” the railway spokesperson said. “Our crew is safe and additional personnel are onsite and in route to begin mitigation/cleanup.” PHOTOS: Train cars derail in downtown Harrisburg “After looking through the waybill with the engineer, it was nothing but cement, and the other car with sodium hydroxide was empty,” Harrisburg Bureau of Fire Chief Brian Enterline told abc27’s Valerie Pritchett. “No hazardous materials issues and the big thing is, no injuries and no damage to the buildings.” Railroad officials are at the scene and working on cleanup. A Norfolk Southern spokesperson said they hope to have the scene cleared by Sunday afternoon. Enterline said Amtrak is still running. One train was slightly delayed, he said, “but everything else should be on schedule at Amtrak.” Harrisburg fire chief discusses train derailments, hazmat concerns The chief said a resident of the Pennsylvania Place high rise initially reported the incident. Ron Govan Jr. lives there and, around 3 p.m., a thunderstorm passed just north of the city. “I started feeling the building rumble,” Govan Jr. said, initially thinking it was the storm. Shortly after, he said he was sent a video of the derailment and saw the aftermath from his window. Masood Wali, a railfan, said he was in Hummelstown when he heard about the derailment. “I’ve never seen [a derailment] this fresh,” Wali said, noting he’d seen the aftermath a week or two later.