Train engineer from Park City seriously injured in train derailment in Colorado
A 42-year-old Utah man was reportedly taken to a hospital with serious injuries after the train he was working on as an engineer collided with a tanker truck and derailed in Colorado.
According to The Washington Post, the collision between the train and the truck occurred around 10 p.m on Monday night near Keenesburg, a small town approximately 35 miles northeast of Denver. The driver of the truck, a 31-year-old man from Fort Wainwright, Alaska, failed to yield at a stop sign at the railroad crossing.
As the truck crossed the tracks, the train collided with the tank and separated it from the truck, according to The Denver Post. After the collision, the train derailed and the locomotive rolled onto its side. The passenger cars remained upright. Both milk from the truck and diesel from the train spilled after the crash. BNSF Railway responded to clean up the spilled fuel.
The engineer, from Park City, was seriously injured in the crash and had to be airlifted to the hospital, according to ABC News. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said he was unable to say more about the condition of the engineer due to privacy reasons, The Washington Post reported.
Of the 69 passengers on board the Amtrak train, a California Zephyr which runs between the San Francisco area and Chicago, three were transported to a hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the truck and a passenger, a 58-year-old man from Commerce City, Colorado, were unharmed.
The crash is under investigation, but Sgt. Troy Kessler of the Colorado State Patrol said the truck is considered to be at fault, according to The Washington Post. The truck was connected with Dairy Farmers of America, according to The Denver Post. The organization is cooperating in the investigation. No charges have been filed yet, and drugs, alcohol and speed are not believed to be factors in the collision.
