(The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review posted the following article on its website on August 1.)
PITTSBURGH — A CSX railroad employee was seriously injured Sunday when the equipment he was operating in Fayette County apparently jumped the track and rolled down an embankment.
CSX spokesman Gary Sease, of the company’s Jacksonville, Fla., office, said last night the injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. Sease declined to identify the employee.
Sease said the accident occurred just after 2:30 p.m. when the man was operating a high-rail vehicle, which is essentially a pickup truck with train-like metal wheels, on a section of track in Springfield Township. He said the vehicle for an unknown reason “derailed and went down a steep embankment and struck some trees.”
According to Sease, the man was pinned in the vehicle for a time before being extricated. He was then flown to a Pittsburgh hospital, Sease said.
“We don’t have many details,” Sease said. “We obviously want to talk to our employee, but our first concern is his health.”
A Fayette County emergency services dispatcher said the state park office at Ohiopyle is investigating. No one in the office could be reached for comment last night.