Amtrak train-truck collision injures at least 55
HALIFAX, N.C. – An Amtrak train slammed into a tractor-trailer that got stuck on the tracks while trying to make a difficult left-hand turn Monday. One of the train’s cars toppled and the conductor and at least 54 others were injured.
The oversized flatbed trailer involved in Monday’s crash was transporting a modular building wrapped in blue plastic and jammed with electrical equipment, said Lt. Jeff Gordon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
One of the troopers escorting the truck from Clayton, North Carolina to the Virginia border was trying to help the driver negotiate a difficult left-hand turn from the tracks onto the road in the town of Halifax, Gordon said. But the 164-foot tractor-trailer combination, longer than half a football field, couldn’t navigate it, he said.
The trooper, who had about 10 years of experience, and the driver were attempting to get the truck turned for about five minutes, during which time there was no indication of an approaching train, Gordon said. When the train appeared, it set off warning flashers and the crossing arms came down and hit the truck as it was still straddling the tracks. The train hit the truck shortly afterward, Gordon said.
He said the truck was unable to back off the tracks before the train hit because traffic had backed up on the road behind him.
State transportation officials said 54 of the injured were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries after Monday’s crash. They said one had more serious injuries. Details were not immediately available.
Among the injured was the train’s conductor, Gordon said. Federal authorities said they believed 62 people were injured. The discrepancy could not be resolved immediately.
Buses were taking about 170 passengers to Richmond, Virginia, where they could board another train, said state Transportation Department spokesman Mike Charbonneau.
Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Michael J. Cole said it appeared that the locomotive and two cars derailed. State transportation officials said one baggage car derailed. The train had one locomotive and seven cars, Cole said.