4:30 P.M. UPDATE: Train strikes semitrailer in Georgetown, pushes box trailer on tracks

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A tractor-trailor and a freight train sit on the tracks after the two collided at the Old Georgetown Road railroad crossing near the intersection of Ind. 64 and Oakes Road in Georgetown on Friday afternoon. No one was injured and no hazardous material was released. Staff photo by Christopher Fryer
Traffic passes by as emergency officials investigate the scene of a collision between a tractor-trailer and a freight train at the Old Georgetown Road railroad crossing near the intersection of Ind. 64 and Oakes Road in Georgetown on Friday afternoon. No one was injured and no hazardous material was released. Staff photo by Christopher Fryer
A tractor-trailor and a freight train sit on the tracks after the two collided at the Old Georgetown Road railroad crossing near the intersection of Ind. 64 and Oakes Road in Georgetown on Friday afternoon. No one was injured and no hazardous material was released. Staff photo by Christopher Fryer

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October 26, 2012

4:30 P.M. UPDATE: Train strikes semitrailer in Georgetown, pushes box trailer on tracks

Georgetown police report no one injured in crash

By GARY POPP gary.popp@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Oct 26, 2012, 04:37 PM EDT

GEORGETOWN — A train crashed into a semitrailer stuck on a railroad crossing located in the 6400 block of Ind. 64 on Friday afternoon.

Georgetown Police Chief Dennis Kunkel said no one was in the semitrailer when the train made impact about 1:15 p.m. The semitrailer driver was crossing the tracks to make a delivery to nearby Floyd County garage, Kunkel said. While on the tracks, dollies on the trailer became hung up on the rails and made the oversized vehicle immobile.

The driver left the truck and walked to the county garage to get assistance, Kunkel said. The garage employees told the driver they would be able to help get the semitrailer free from the tracks, Kunkel said. As the driver walked back to the truck, the train, comprised of two engines and nine cars, was nearing the semitrailer. The train struck the vehicle and pushed the trailer of the semi nearly 30 feet on the tracks before coming to a stop.

Kunkel said if the train would have continued a short distance further, the box trailer could have knocked down a telephone pole. He said some of the telephone poles’ strap cables were pulled out of the ground, and parts of rail tracks also were considerably damaged. Kunkel said the incident caused an unofficial estimate of $20,000 to $40,000 in damage.

He said the investigation is continuing and no preliminary charges have been issued.

The incident took place near Jacobi’s Food Mart and Gas, located at 6494 Ind. 64. Jacobi’s employee Paula Quick said she and other employees saw the train crash into the trailer.

“Sparks were flying and everything,” she said. “The train tried to stop but he couldn’t,” she said.

Quick said she could tell the train was going to hit the semi trailer, but there was nothing she and the other employees could do to prevent the accident.

“There is the saying, ‘You can’t look away from a train crash,’ and we couldn’t look away,” she said.