Train carrying oil derails in western Pa.

Associated Press

VANDERGRIFT, Pa.

A freight train derailment Thursday in western Pennsylvania spilled several thousand gallons of crude oil that authorities say went onto a parking lot and not on the ground or any waterways.

No injuries were reported. Thirty-five people were evacuated from a factory building that was struck by two of the cars, and the building will be assessed for safety, said Dan Stevens, spokesman for the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety.

Department officials said the derailment of 21 cars was reported shortly before 8 a.m. on a Norfolk Southern rail line between Vandergrift and East Vandergrift. The site is about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Stevens said 19 cars carrying heavy crude and two cars containing liquid propane derailed, and about 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of crude spilled from one of the cars. None of the propane escaped, officials said.

The accident is under investigation, and there was no immediate word on the cause. But a huge boom in domestic oil and natural-gas production has led to sharp increases in rail transportation of those resources.