(The following story by Jason Trahan appeared on The Dallas Morning News website on June 28, 2009.)
DALLAS, Texas — An Amtrak train bound for Fort Worth stalled Saturday for more than two hours in Denton County, leaving about 170 passengers baking in 100-degree heat with no air conditioning.
Local firefighters provided ice water and other aid while arrangements were made to get the stranded riders out of the heat, said Tom Reedy, a Denton County sheriff spokesman.
“There are no medical problems so far,” he said Saturday afternoon. “Everybody’s in good shape.”
The southbound train struck a plow attached to a tractor at about 9:40 a.m. at a dirt road crossing in Davis, Okla., about 80 miles north of Sanger, said Vernae Graham, an Amtrak spokeswoman.
“The driver was trying to cross and wasn’t able to get the plow completely off the track,” she said. There were no injuries, and the damage to the train appeared to be minor, she said. The train’s maximum speed is 79 mph, but it’s unclear how fast it was traveling at the time.
Amtrak officials are investigating whether that collision caused the train to stall at about 12:30 p.m. near Sanger.
The area where it stopped, between Lois and Lone Oak roads just east of Interstate 35, was not easily reached by the buses dispatched to pick up the stranded passengers. By 3 p.m., a BNSF locomotive was brought in to push the disabled train south into downtown Sanger. From there, passengers were bused to Fort Worth.
“They’re out of the heat,” the Rev. E.L. McNeal of First Baptist Church in Sanger said Saturday afternoon. Passengers were brought to the church to await the buses to take them to Fort Worth. He said about 25 of his congregation members helped the eight or so agencies aiding the passengers. “We’ve got a gym, and they’re watching a movie in there, Facing the Giants,” which is about football, he said. “We didn’t want to show them anything with a train crash.”
The train, known as the Heartland Flyer, makes regular runs between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth.