Emergency responders and others look over the site of a Norfolk Southern train derailment Tuesday morning in Huntingdon. No one was injured in the accident, which occurred on a bridge that spans Standing Stone Creek. Photo for the Mirror by Andrew Socie

HUNTINGDON — No one was injured and no hazardous materials were spilled when an eastbound Norfolk Southern train traveling from Altoona to Harrisburg derailed along the edge of Standing Stone Creek Tuesday morning.

Jonathan Glass, Norfolk Southern public relations manager, said the railroad is still investigating the cause of the derailment near East Penn Street.

At a media conference Tuesday, Huntingdon County EMA Director Joseph Thompson said there was no critical infrastructure damage and no impact to the water supply.

Cleanup is expected to take several days.

Shortly after 8 a.m., several rail cars overturned, with five of them landing in the Juniata River tributary, according to Thompson.

“From what we were able to see from the scene, it looks like four to five train cars carrying miscellaneous nonhazardous materials went off the tracks,” Thompson said. “A couple of the train cars did land in (Standing) Stone Creek. The accident site is actually on a bridge that spans Stone Creek. A couple of the cars did end up in the waterway. There were others that landed on the ground.”

A variety of goods carried by the rail cars including peas, dried potatoes, pulp board and plastic pellets spilled in and around the creek, said Glass in an email. First responders on scene placed a containment boom in the creek to clean up the plastic pellets.

An emergency operations center has been established in the Huntingdon County EMA office.

Jeff Buckley, Huntingdon Borough police chief, urged the public to avoid the area.

“This is an active site as far as cleanup — very busy, very active. They are moving a lot of heavy equipment to the area to help in the cleanup. Please avoid this,” Buckley said.

Three Huntingdon Area School District employees working at Blair’s Field, located across from the train tracks, witnessed the accident.

Tom Fouse, a school district custodian, described the derailment as an “accordion style wreck” with rail cars backed into each other.

“It all happened so quick,” Fouse said. Fouse was walking along a stretch of the field with school district co-workers, Chris Wible and Andrew Socie, at the time of the accident.

Socie said he and the other two were getting track and field equipment ready for a tournament when they heard a loud banging noise before watching a rail car roll into the creek.

Wible, another eyewitness, said he heard a loud “horrendous banging together,” commenting on how the rail cars almost appeared to be jumping.

After they arrived on scene to check for spillage of hazardous materials, Wible called 911 at 8:10 a.m.

“I’ve never heard anything that loud,” Wible said. “I’ve never witnessed anything like that.”

The train derailment disrupted operations of the Amtrak Pennsylvanian train 43, which travels between New York and Pittsburgh, causing travel cancellations, said Amtrak public relations manager Beth Toll.

Teresa Cheung, conductor for the Altoona Symphony Orchestra, had to change her travel plans after the wreck caused her train from New York to be canceled.

“I think I’m just going to drive,” she said. “I didn’t want to do that. I’m still a little foggy.” She recently spent two weeks in her native Hong Kong, returning to her New York home on Sunday and still had “a little bit of jet lag,” she explained.

Cheung is coming to Altoona to conduct the ASO concert on Saturday in Hollidaysburg.

“This is what it’s like to be on the road,” Cheung said. “You have only one train track, and when something happens, it’s kind of tough.”

In addition, Amtrak Pennsylvanian train 42 at Altoona was canceled. Amtrak provided passengers with bus transportation to the Harrisburg Amtrak station to continue to New York by train.

About three hours after the derailment, trains resumed operations along the Fourth Street intersection on one set of the tracks at reduced speeds of less than 5 mph for at least 24 hours.

Norfolk Southern personnel are working with first responders and contract companies for restoration, environmental cleanup and re-railing or disposal of derailed cars.

The derailed general merchandise train was traveling from Altoona to Harrisburg and consisted of two locomotives, 75 loaded rail cars and 10 empty cars.

Mirror Staff Writer Shen Wu Tan is at 946-7457. Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks contributed to this report.