Train hits truck, killing driver

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Dec 15, 2005 | by Pat Reavy Deseret Morning News

An Amtrak train collided with a semitrailer truck Wednesday just outside of Cisco in Grand County, killing the truck driver and slightly injuring at least two people on the train.

Killed was: David Miller, 26, of Clifton, Colo.

The accident happened about 11 a.m. on the Nash Wash road, a county road about 46 miles east of Green River. The California Zephyr (Train 6) left the San Francisco area Tuesday headed for Chicago by way of Grand Junction, Colo.

Two locomotives were hauling 11 cars. The accident caused one wheel of the lead locomotive to derail, Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said. The second locomotive was partly derailed, as well, according to a news release from the Grand County Sheriff's Office.

Crews were working Wednesday to remove that locomotive from the train as well as the truck, at which point the rest of the train would finish its route, she said.

The train hit the truck, which was hauling trash, and traveled about one-half mile down the track before coming to a stop, said Chief Deputy Curt Brewer of the Grand County Sheriff's Office. It appeared the truck was trying to cross the tracks in front of the approaching train, he said.

The crossing where the accident occurred is in a remote area that has no crossing arms or lights, but warning signs at the tracks indicate a crossing at the location.

It is unknown why the truck failed to stop for the train.

None of the crew members aboard the train was injured, according to Amtrak officials. Brewer said five of the 199 passengers on the train were hurt, and one was sent to a Moab hospital for evaluation. Amtrak's Graham could confirm only two injuries and none hospitalized.

The sheriff's office is continuing to investigate the crash.

There had been 26 train wrecks this year in Utah through September, the most recent statistics available from the Federal Railroad Administration. Only one of those accidents involved a passenger train.

Seven passengers were hurt in the May crash of the Heber Valley Railroad in Wasatch County near Charleston.

In January, the California Zephyr derailed in Colorado near the Utah line. The train was carrying more than 100 people when it ran into a pickup-size boulder. Six people were hurt, none seriously.

Contributing: Joseph M. Dougherty

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com