2018 Station Square Derailment

The 2018 Station Square Derailment occurred on the afternoon of August 5, 2018, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The accident involved a Norfolk Southern manifest freight train, about 57 cars long, traveling at approximately 25 MPH at the time of the incident. 10 cars derailed, 3 fell onto the Port Authority of Allegheny County tracks, blocking the line and taking 6 containers with them, while the other 7 and their associated containers remained on the NS right of way. No injuries were reported, and the other 47 cars were not damaged. The accident caused $1.8M in damage, and was caught on video.

An investigation by the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) agreed with an initial assessment by Norfolk Southern Railroad that a defect in the rails caused the accident. A rail inspection performed approximately 3 weeks earlier failed to detect the defect. The investigation faulted Norfolk Southern's contractor Sperry Rail Service for failing to detect the defect.

Cleanup and removal

The cleanup and removal started immediately after the derailment and ended on August 8, when all 57 cars and their containers were removed.

Train

The train involved in the incident was heading from New Jersey to Chicago. It consisted of 3 locomotives, 57 wellcars, loaded with double-stack intermodal containers, one of which was carrying Listerine. The consist was 7,687 feet (1.46 miles) long, and weighed 4,838 tons.