EVERETT, Wash. — The city of Everett and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. are working to improve safety at a railroad crossing where a train struck a log truck Monday, the Herald of Everett, Wash., reported.
Neither the log truck driver nor anyone on the train was injured.
The accident was the third at the site where railroad tracks cross Pacific Avenue at Chestnut Street and Eclipse Mill Road. It is in an east Everett industrial area along the Snohomish River.
The log truck driver reportedly never heard the train whistle until he was crossing the tracks, and then he gunned his engine. A westbound Amtrak passenger train hit the back of the trailer, flipping it and sending about 70 logs onto Eclipse Mill Road.
The Bellingham-to-Seattle passenger train was delayed for 40 minutes, said Gus Melonas, a railway spokesman. The crash occurred about 11:35 a.m.
Melonas said the train was traveling at 30 mph, the posted speed for the area.
The train’s whistle was blowing, and the crew applied the emergency brake, but the train couldn’t stop before striking the truck, he said. There was minimal damage to the train.
Monday’s crash was the third in 13 months. Only about 100 vehicles are estimated to use the intersection each day.
Early last month, an Amtrak train collided with a dump truck at the same location, seriously injuring the truck driver. Six train passengers suffered minor injuries.
A minor collision also occurred Sept. 25, 2001, said Wayne Wentz, the city’s traffic engineer.
Greg Ostolaza, owner of nearby SOS Equipment, was talking to a friend in the parking lot of Mountain Equipment Monday.
“I heard the train (crew) laying on the horn a whole lot,” he said.
A few seconds later, the train hit the log trailer.
“It sounded like a bomb going off,” Ostolaza said. He checked on the truck driver, who was shaken but OK.
“His first words to me were, ‘I didn’t hear anything or see anything.’ It appeared to me at the last second he tried to clear the crossing. He didn’t make it. It must have put a hell of a scare into (the train crew),” Ostolaza said.
“This is a real dangerous crossing,” he said. “They need to either put a crossing (arm) in or slow the trains down. There’s a lot of big rigs crossing through here. Someone’s gonna get killed.”
The intersection is marked with only the crossbars that indicate a railroad crossing. The railroad plans to install crossing arms that will lower to block the tracks and lights that will flash when a train is approaching. The project is expected to be completed in about a year.
“I wanted it sooner, because every time you hear this sound, you just about have a heart attack,” said Shellie French, a secretary at nearby Ace Rock. “Your heart stops. From our office, you can’t see (the crossing). You just wonder who it is. We have a lot of family down here.”
Burlington Northern officials urged the city about six months ago to apply for a federal grant to improve the crossing, said David Davis, Everett’s director of engineering. The city received about $75,000, then got the state to approve the upgrade.
“It’s really a no-brainer because everybody wants it,” Davis said. “They’re doing it as expeditiously as they can. I would assume that with the two recent accidents they had that might speed this up.”
The crossing is one of many the city has worked to improve over the years, Davis said. Others include the Pacific Avenue overpass at Everett Station, an overpass being built at California Street and the waterfront, and the 41st Street extension project set to be completed within the next year or so, he said.
“There’s really been a focus, not just in Everett, but all throughout our area, to eliminate these types of crossings and to improve their safety,” Davis said.