ORLANDO, Fla. — Frank O’Toole had just turned to pour himself a cup of coffee when he heard a crash and the sickening shriek of metal on metal, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
“By the time I looked out, I could see the damn engine block and the hood flying off. By then, the car was up underneath the train,” he said, pointing to the site of Monday’s fatal train-car collision in the Pine Castle area south of Orlando.
The two men returning to a job site from lunch were pinned inside and probably already dead.
The men, employees of an electrical company, were heading west on Glen Rose Avenue around 12:40 p.m. when they pulled into the path of a northbound Amtrak passenger train. Officials identified the passenger as Rolando Liboy, 47, of Apopka. Late Monday, they had yet to identify the driver.
The Amtrak train, which had just left Kissimmee, was headed for New York. After smashing into the white Buick, the train pushed the car for a quarter of a mile, metal screeching all the way. The train came to rest just north
of Lancaster Road, along tracks that parallel South Orange Avenue. Amtrak officials did not know late Monday how fast it was traveling, but the tracks in that area are approved for 79 mph.
When rescue workers arrived a few minutes later, they found that Liboy and the car’s driver had died from the impact. Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller said the men worked for Beacon Electrical Contracting and Design. They pulled in front of the train, which had sounded its whistle at least twice, according to witnesses.
A woman at a nearby convenience store told troopers it appeared as though the car was stuck on the track for a few minutes. But O’Toole, who lives a few hundred feet from the crash, said he saw the car was moving just before the wreck.
“At first, I thought he’d made it,” said O’Toole, who has lived next to the tracks for 14 years. “Then I heard that crash.”
No one on the train, which carried about 150 people, was injured. They were not evacuated. The train had minimal damage, and it continued on its route several hours later.
The collision occurred at a crossing without gates or flashing lights. It has only two black-and-white railroad-crossing signs. The Florida Department of Transportation determines the type of warning devices appropriate for each crossing.
In its most recent inspection, FDOT found the crossing averaged about 289 cars and trucks and 34 trains a day, making it a low-priority crossing. A Federal Rail Administration assessment estimates there is less than a 6 percent chance of a train-vehicle collision at the crossing in any given year.
Orange County has 215 crossings, according to the FRA. About 120 of them are equipped with gates and flashing lights.