It was not a good day for seemingly any kind of transportation in Southwest Michigan today. In addition to multiple car and truck crashes along I-94 including an overturned car hauler with multiple vehicles on board near Mile Marker 19 on the highway near Grand Mere, an incident in downtown Three Oaks involving an Amtrak passenger train and a large delivery truck left train passengers stranded.
Three Oaks Police and Fire officials say that the Amtrak train was headed eastbound through the N. Elm Street crossing at the center of town when a box truck delivery vehicle got trapped between two downed crossing arms designed to prevent traffic from entering the crossing while the train was rolling through. As a result, the delivery vehicle, bearing markings for the El Paso Import Company, had the entire rear end ripped open by the train, and its heavy duty bumper was thrown well down a side street running parallel to the tracks and slammed into the front end of a passenger car belonging to a clerk at Big C Lumber a few yards from the tracks.
According to reports from WNDU-TV which was one of the first on the scene, the train’s unidentified engineer suffered facial injuries and was taken to Spectrum Health Lakeland in St. Joe for treatment when a large beam from the truck ended up smashing through the windshield of the train’s engine.
Authorities say that the truck driver had just turned the corner and got boxed in by the red and white crossing arms coming down followed moments later by the train ramming through the back end of the truck. WNDU says that the truck driver was reportedly unhurt in the incident, and quoted Amtrak authorities as saying that other than the engineer aboard the train, no other passenger was hurt in the incident earlier today.
The train wasn’t able to come to a full stop until it had traveled another quarter mile or so up the track, and was sitting there with the beam still embedded in the windshield.
The incident remains under investigation. Berrien County Sheriff’s Deputies also assisted on the scene of the accident. The sun was shining bright at the time, but the temperatures were hovering in the teens at the time of the crash.
Amtrak passenger trains were also involved in two other accidents involving cars on the tracks on Sunday night in the region.
The photo accompanying this story is courtesy of WNDU News from video shot at the scene of the accident.
