Two freight trains collided in Chester, Pa on Friday morning. Four CSX employees are reported as injured. Police are investigating the case of the mix up. The accident occurred on Concord Road at Bethel Road. One train was carrying consumer goods and the other train was empty, which may have prevented things from being worse. A check of the manifest revealed that the train was not carrying any hazardous materials, but there is a diesel spill at the scene and the extent of damage to the trains has not yet been assessed.
No further information is available at this time.
This is not the first train wreck in Chester this year. In April, a train collided with equipment left on the track, killing two workers and injuring a number of AMTRAK passengers aboard the train.
From NBC 10:
Frigo said he did not know why the equipment was on a track the train was using. He said scheduling, the track structure and the work that was being performed at the time of the accident would be part of the investigation. The event data recorder has been sent to the safety board’s laboratory in Washington and will answer such questions as to how fast the train was going at the time of the crash, he said.
Passengers told NBC10’s Randy Gyllenhaal they heard a bang, felt a jolt and then saw a plume of smoke and a fireball as the train proceeded past the point of impact. The force of the wreck caused the train engine to derail, Amtrak said. NBC10 cameras captured the smashed windshields of the derailed engine and damage to the front cars including smashed windows.
