The driver of a pickup truck that collided with the Denton A-Train Thursday morning has died. (Published Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015)
Updated at 5:37 PM CDT on Thursday, Aug 6, 2015
The driver of a pickup truck that collided with the Denton A-Train Thursday morning has died.
Just
before 9 a.m. the Denton County Transportation Authority A-Train
collided with a pickup truck at the W. Hundley Drive and S. Denton Drive
crossing in Lake Dallas, between the Highland Village/Lewisville Lake
and MedPark stations, and was knocked off the tracks.
According
to Chad Thiessen with the Lake Cities Fire Department, the driver of
the truck struck by the train was transported to an area hospital, but
died later that day. The identity of the driver has not yet been
released.
About
32 passengers were on the northbound train at the time of the collision
and told NBC 5 they felt the train shake before coming to a stop. They
then had to wait on board for about an hour before being escorted off
the train and onto buses and driven to the next stop, MedPark Station.
Part
of the train was knocked off the tracks and part of the crossing arm
was damaged in the crash, knocking out commuter train service until
about 2:30 p.m. and blocking traffic from crossing the intersection
until about 1 p.m.
After
service resumed Thursday, the A-Train began crossing the intersection
at much slower speeds with its horn blaring, as is policy after an
incident according to DCTA communications.
Leaders
with the transit authority said the incident is being investigated and,
at this point, they don’t know why the truck was in the path of the
train when the crossing arms seemed to be down and the warning alarms
were sounding.
Vice
President of Communication Nicole Recker said they continue to urge
everyone to observe safety signs and measures around the tracks and to
pay attention to their surroundings.
The
DCTA website contains an entire section on rail safety that includes
several warnings about the danger of getting in the train’s path.
The cause of the crash and how the vehicle came to be in the path of the train remain under investigation.