(The following story by Stan Finger appeared on The Wichita Eagle website on December 18.)
WICHITA, Kan. — A train collided with the rail cars of a second train near Mulvane on Monday morning, injuring two people — one of them critically.
A northbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway train attempted to stop that so a southbound train could clear the main rail line. Instead, the train slammed into rail cars linked to the second train at 9:57 a.m., Sedgwick County sheriff’s Sgt. Terry Litton said.
“The northbound train basically had the red light,” Litton said. “It was supposed to stop… (but) the momentum of the train did not allow it to get stopped before it collided with the other train as it was coming off the main line.”
Five cars from the second train were knocked off the rails by the northbound engine, Litton said.
The engineer of the northbound train was taken to Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus, where she was in critical condition Monday evening, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The train’s conductor was taken to Wesley Medical Center, where he was in fair condition.
Their names were not released pending notification of relatives, said Joe Faust, a BNSF spokesman.
K-15 was closed briefly after the collision but it reopened before noon Monday.