(The following article by Delen Goldberg and Pam Lundborg was posted on the Syracuse Post-Standard website on December 15.)
MANILUS, N.Y. — One person was killed Thursday when a freight train collided with a truck at a CSX rail yard off Fremont Road in the town of Manlius.
One person was in the vehicle about 5:23 p.m. when it was hit by the train. The identification of the victim was not available late Thursday night but it appears he was a CSX employee, said Manlius Police Capt. Bill Bleyle.
“The train was backing up, the truck was crossing the tracks,” Bleyle said. “The truck and the train collided.”
After the initial impact, the train continued to back up, crushing the truck and trapping the man inside, Bleyle said.
Police were not able to identify the victim late Thursday night because the body was still trapped in the white CSX truck. No one on the train was hurt.
Minoa firefighters began trying to recover the body shortly before 10 p.m. The body was removed from the truck late Thursday night.
The investigation was difficult and slow because the crushed truck had metal-cutting torches inside. Rescue workers were worried that the torches would ignite, Bleyle said. A small fire broke out in the truck’s engine compartment; it was extinguished by Minoa firefighters, he said.
Officer safety was a major concern in the recovery effort, Bleyle said. Before they could enter the railroad yard, workers had to shut down the yards to all trains for about four hours.
The train involved in the crash is a red, metal flatbed train with no box cars or passenger seats. The truck was perpendicular to the tracks. After the crash, the truck was upside down, pinned beneath the train.
Bleyle did not know how many cars were attached to the train.
Firefighters climbed on top of the wreckage to try to separate the truck from the train. They used shovels to dig around the truck.
Manlius police brought their chaplain to the scene.
“It affects not only our officers – this is a very difficult scene,” Bleyle said. “But it also impacts the workers here who are grieving the loss of a fellow employee.”
Police do not know why the truck was on the track, why the train continued to back up after the initial impact or how fast the train was going.
Investigators are reviewing the radio calls and looking at the train’s “black box,” which is similar to the data-recording device found on airplanes, he said.
The state Department of Transportation and CSX officials are each performing separate investigations and are working with Manlius police, Bleyle said.
Rescue workers on the scene were familiar with the area. All rescue crews have done training and drills at the CSX yard as part of a town-wide critical response committee, he said.
“They (CSX) have been very cooperative with us,” he said. “We expect it’s going to be a lengthy investigation.”