10/22/2006 Two train cars still burning after derailment in W. Pa. By DANIEL LOVERING, Associated Press Writer , The Associated Press
Two tanker cars from a derailed train continued to burn Sunday as Norfolk Southern employees and contractors worked to clear the wreckage from the railroad tracks and residents began returning to their homes. Advertisement
The night before, federal investigators removed data recorders from the train, which was carrying ethanol when several cars derailed Friday and burst into flames over a bridge in southwestern Pennsylvania. No one was injured.
New Brighton borough manager Larry Morley said Sunday that authorities were allowing many evacuated residents to return home but were continuing to restrict people from houses in the immediate area of the accident, some within 100 feet.
A family assistance center had been set up at a local church, where Norfolk Southern representatives would be available through the week to deal with financial losses residents may have suffered, Morley said.
New Brighton Fire Chief Jeffrey Bolland said four or five homes would remain off limits while firefighters continue to work in the area.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board on Saturday removed a section of track that was broken in two when 23 cars from the train's midsection derailed.
Robert Sumwalt, vice chairman of the safety board, said preliminary indications from the data recorders showed that the train was traveling 36 mph to 39 mph when it crashed. The speed limit is 45 mph along the rail bridge.
NTSB officials said they would gather maintenance records and interview witnesses, including the train's crew.
NTSB spokesman Terry Wilson said the agency was planning to hold a news conference at 4 p.m. in New Brighton.
The train _ 86 tanker cars pulled by three locomotives _ was traveling from Chicago to New Jersey when it derailed over the Beaver River in New Brighton, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
About 50 people who live nearby spent Friday night in a makeshift shelter at a local school because of concerns of possible explosions.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband would not comment on the condition of the half-mile long bridge before the accident, but said company officials inspect mainline tracks like the ones on the bridge at least twice a week.
The railroad's engineers will examine the bridge for structural soundness, but Sumwalt said they can't do that until the burning cars are removed.
About 50 to 70 trains use the tracks daily and many will have to be detoured.
The derailment was affecting Amtrak's Capitol Limited, which makes one round trip daily between Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Until that section of track reopens, each one-way trip will take about 2 1/2 hours longer because the train is being detoured onto some short line tracks between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said.
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