(The following story appeared on the Sun News website on October 3.)
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A locomotive and a dump truck did battle at McGregor Range Tuesday afternoon. The truck lost.
“At 2:31 p.m., a Union Pacific locomotive traveling north collided with a dump truck,” said James Barnes, director of media information for Union Pacific. “The accident occurred near McGregor Range Road and U.S. Highway 54, about 20 miles south of Orogrande.”
Barnes said the locomotive was not derailed.
“A member of the Union Pacific crew sustained minor injuries,” said Joe Arbona, director of Union Pacific regional public affairs, in an interview Tuesday.
Arbona said the driver of the dump truck was taken to R.E. Thomason Hospital in El Paso with unknown injuries and was reported Tuesday afternoon as being in stable but critical condition.
“We cannot release the name of the driver until we are certain his family has been notified first,” Arbona said.
Because of diesel spillage on the tracks caused by the impact, Arbona said the State of New Mexico Environmental Department was notified. Otero County Sheriff’s Department, Fort Bliss Military Police and Union Pacific Special Police also responded to the scene.
“An investigation of the accident is currently under way,” Barnes said. “One of the things we have to do is to download the event recorder, which is like a black box in an aircraft, as part of the investigation.”
Arbona said Union Pacific’s top worry is not for the locomotive but for the condition of the dump truck’s driver.
“This is a very unfortunate thing that has happened,” Arbona said. “We are very concerned for the welfare of the victim more than anything else. Our crew on the locomotive are pretty shook up over this and are going through peer support right now. We still haven’t done a debriefing with them.”
Arbona said there were two Union Pacific crewmen involved, an engineer and a conductor.
“I don’t believe the driver of the dump truck is a military person,” he added. “I believe he is a civilian contractor.”