Freight trains collide head-on; 2 crew members injured

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Two freight trains crashed head-on Friday morning outside Philadelphia, knocking one locomotive off the tracks and injuring two crew members.

The CSX trains remained upright following the crash at a track interlocking in Chester, about 13 miles outside of the city. The trains had been traveling the same track when they collided, but local law enforcement and the transportation company are trying to determine how fast each was traveling at the time and what caused the crash, CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle said.

Philly.com reports only one car, a locomotive, appeared to have left the tracks. Doolittle said he did not have any information about a derailment, but that four locomotives were involved in the incident.

One of the trains was empty as it traveled to Pavonia Yard in Camden, New Jersey, from Richmond, Virginia, with three locomotives and 64 freight cars. It collided with another CSX train with one locomotive and eight intermodal cars carrying consumer goods and food products to Atlanta from Quebec, Canada.

Neither train was carrying hazardous materials, but some diesel spilled on the tracks as a result of the crash, Philly.com reported.

“Basically, it’s a minor accident that happens to be two trains,” Chester Township Fire Chief Jeff Comisiak told reporters at the scene.

Two crew members were aboard each train at the time, but Doolittle declined to comment on the extent of the injuries suffered by two of them. They were taken to a local hospital for treatment, he said.

Ray Guy, 58, told Philly.com that he was moving his car at his home alongside the tracks when he saw an eastbound train and a parked westbound train on the same track “hit hard.” Guy said one of the crew members appeared dazed.

Comisiak said the four workers were outside the locomotives when first responders arrived to the crash scene.