Yet another tragic accident involving a train and vehicle collision occurred in Texas last Saturday, August 25, 2018.
Two people in a commercial dump truck were killed when their vehicle was hit by a train in Fort Worth, Texas. The crash occurred on Calloway Cemetery Road with a Trinity Railway Express train. According to news reports, a spokesperson for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) said the person driving the truck went through the crossing arm that had come down. Reportedly, the dump truck ignored the warning lights, bells and crossing arms at the train track crossing.
The spokesperson for DART said in news reports that the authorized speed for the train is 79 mph in that area. Investigators haven’t confirmed what the train’s speed was at the time of the crash. The warning lights at the crossing go off about 47 seconds before the train enters the crossing. In this case, with the crossing arms reportedly down, there would not have been much time for the train to brake.
Two people inside the train at the time had critical injuries. Three others were transported with serious injuries and six have minor injuries. Another twenty persons inside the train were uninjured.
The crash remains under investigation.