Two freight trains crashed into each other in Texas on June 28, leaving three crew members missing, one injured and several box cars in flames.
Both locomotives were traveling on the same track when they collided near Panhandle, Texas. Joe Faust, spokesman for BNSF Railway who owned the two freight trains, said each train was carrying two crew members when the accident occurred, with one of them jumping from the locomotive just before it crashed into the other.
Officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) said the man who leapt from the train was taken to a hospital in Amarillo in order to receive treatment. His injuries were not considered life-threatening and he is now in stable condition. The man's identity, however, was not made available.
Sgt. Dan Buesing of the TxDPS said rescuers weren't able to search for the three missing BNSF crew members in the train wreck right away as the fire was still raging Tuesday evening, adding that emergency crew were still trying to put out the fire.
Buesing said the head-on collision caused the trains' containers and cars to be derailed and scattered some 400 yards from the crash site. With rescue efforts expected to continue well into the night, crew had to set up floodlights to illuminate the area and help make their search for the missing train workers in the dark easier.
It is still unclear just how fast the two BNSF trains were traveling when they crashed into each other, but according to Faust, the speed limit for trains in the area is only 70 mph. Officials are also still trying to determine how the trains managed to occupy the same track at the same time. Faust said the freight trains were carrying various consumer goods.
Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said they have launched an investigation regarding the incident, while the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) said it has already sent investigators to the crash site.
Railroad Safety
BNSF Railway has announced that it will adopt a new technology known as positive train control (PTC) in accordance with a 2018 deadline set by federal authorities.
PTC makes use of computers, wireless radio and GPS to monitor the position of trains and automatically slow down or even stop them if there is a risk that they could be derailed or collide with one another.
The system is also designed to prevent trains from traveling on tracks that are either off limits or where crew members are currently working.
Aside from BNSF Railway, three other freight railroads have also expressed their willingness to adopt the new technology, though they may need an extension of the deadline to 2020.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Faust said that the collision between the two BNSF freight trains is the type of railroad accident that could have been avoided through the use of the positive train control system, and that their company is "aggressively" pursuing to have PTC installed across their network of railways.
