Trucker Killed in Crash with Amtrak

Railfanning.org News Wire

PLANT CITY, Fla. — A truck driver was killed Tuesday, July 17, after an Amtrak train crashed into his truck, the second fatal Amtrak wreck in as many days.

“Witnesses tell us that it was obvious the train was coming, the train was hitting all of its whistles at the appropriate whistle marks,” The Associated Press quoted Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Larry Coggins as saying. “The truck drove onto the tracks in front of the oncoming train.”

No one on board the train was hurt in the derailment, authorities said.

A day earlier, four people were killed after an Amtrak train crashed with a car whose driver circumvented crossing gates.

The train, the Silver star, travels between Miami and New York. At the time of the crash, more than 160 people were on board, authorities said.