NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Three Union Pacific freight trains collided Wednesday, injuring four crew members and igniting a fire that shut down a Nebraska highway, reported a wire service.
The fire may have been caused by diesel fuel from the train engines, railroad spokesman Mark Davis said. The fire was doused two hours after the 4:30 a.m. accident, and no hazardous material was involved.
Four of the six crew members suffered minor injuries, Davis said.
Union Pacific runs about 130 trains each day on the stretch of track a few miles east of North Platte, in southwestern Nebraska.
According to Davis, an empty westbound coal train was rear-ended by another empty coal train. An eastbound train carrying auto parts on a nearby track somehow got entangled in the wreckage, possibly by running into a derailed car.
The trains each had two locomotives; of the 265 cars, 29 were destroyed. Some of the cars piled up on top of each other, and one lay across part of two-lane U.S. Highway 30, which was closed. The highway was reopened Wednesday evening.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were on the way to the scene.