(The Associated Press circulated the following article on February 7.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — A coal train hit a furniture delivery truck, part of which was on the tracks, at a downtown crossing Monday.
No one was injured, but a power pole was snapped off, closing a major intersection, authorities said.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe train, with three locomotives pulling 119 cars, hit a tractor-trailer at the crossing about 9 a.m., BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said.
The tractor-trailer driver had left the truck to go into a furniture store, where he was making a delivery, Police Lt. Dan Donlin said.
“The back end of the trailer was resting across the tracks,” Donlin said.
“The train came through, and obviously from a distance, when they saw that there was something obstructing the rail, they immediately activated their brakes,” he said.
The train hit the back end of the trailer.
“The trailer then struck a utility pole, which severed the utility pole at its base,” Donlin said.
Doug Sturlaugson, of Bismarck, saw the crash.
“I heard the train horn and the next thing I knew, the semitrailer was flying eastbound into the utility pole, and it knocked off the utility pole and activated the 911 system and they said that there was help on the way,” he said.
Fire Department Battalion Chief Don Peterson said emergency officials who responded took a cautious approach.
“We had to make sure there was no live energy to the train before we moved anything,” he said.
The utility pole remained suspended by its own wires, until crews from Montana-Dakota Utilities brought in equipment to stabilize it, Donlin said.
The crash did not knock out power, he said.
Donlin said the intersection would remain closed throughout the day while MDU crews worked to replace the pole.
MDU spokesman Dan Sharp estimated that the intersection would not reopen until midnight.
“There are four (electrical) circuits on the pole, so we’ll have to take every one of those circuits off the old pole . . . and put them on the new pole,” he said.
Sharp did not expect any power disruptions while repairs were being made.
Donlin said information on the crash was turned over to the city attorney, who will consider whether the 61-year-old truck driver, from Mandan, will face charges. His name was not released.
Melonas said the train was carrying coal from the Powder River Basin, along the Montana-Wyoming border, to Chicago, and that it would continue on its way.