No timetable set for Freeport Road in Harmar to reopen; official tells public to stay away

A section of Freeport Road in Harmar will remain closed while crews work to empty and then remove tankers that toppled into Guys Run when a train derailed Thursday on tracks that run along side the road.

And officials gave no timetable in an update Saturday as to when the road will reopen.

Bruno Moretti, coordinator for the Allegheny Valley Regional Emergency Management Agency, pleaded for the public to stay away from the area.

“Every time people try to come into the area, it’s a distraction (for the crews working),” he said.

Work to remove the Norfolk Southern tankers began Saturday, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Officials said one rail car was emptied of petroleum distillates and removed from the bank of the creek.

Three more remain in the creek, officials said, and they’re expected to be removed before the end of the day Saturday.

Contractors for the EPA collected samples from the water’s surface to test for possible impacts from the spilled petroleum distillate. The goal is to keep the distillate from traveling down the creek and into the Allegheny River just yards away.

Barriers called booms have been placed in Guys Run to keep the distillate from making its way into the river. The distillate floats on top of the water, officials said, and so the floating booms act as a barrier to the distillate.

The distillates emit what officials called volatile organic compounds, which can produce a kerosene-like smell in warmer air temperatures. While the smell might be present in the area, officials said, air monitors have not detected any concerning levels of the compound.

Drinking water samples from Allegheny River intakes have also shown no contamination, officials said.

Officials could not provide a timeline for when the work might be done or when Freeport Road might reopen.

The tracks in the area were repaired Saturday and reopened to train traffic about 2:15 p.m.

The eastbound train hit a heavy equipment truck carrying stone at the crossing into the Allegheny Valley Joint Sewage Authority along Freeport Road on Thursday, company officials said.

The train consisted of four locomotives, 109 loaded cars and 116 empty cars.

Seventeen cars and engines were derailed.

Allegheny County officials said nine rail cars went off a railroad bridge and into Guys Run.