(The Associated Press circulated the following story on January 13.)
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A school bus and an Amtrak passenger train collided Tuesday morning, critically injuring the bus driver.
No students were on the Bloomfield Hills School District bus at the time of the 10:30 a.m. accident. None of the seven passengers and two crew members aboard the train was injured, police Capt. Kirt Bowden said.
The driver’s name was not immediately released, but The Oakland Press of Pontiac identified him as a 68-year-old resident of Oakland County’s Waterford Township. He was taken to William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, schools spokeswoman Jennifer Woliung said.
The railroad crossing’s gates, bells and lights were working, but the driver apparently did not try to stop before driving the bus through it, Police Chief Jeffrey Werner told The Press.
Michigan State Police were examining the bus to see whether it had any mechanical problems, Werner said. Road conditions did not appear to be a factor. It was not immediately known whether the driver suffered any medical problems, the chief said.
“We have no idea why he drove through the gates,” Werner said. “We’re at a loss to explain why this happened.”
It was not known how fast the Chicago-bound train was traveling at the time of the collision, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
Investigators were at the scene in this Oakland County community about 25 miles northwest of Detroit trying to determine the cause of the collision.