An Amtrak engineer sustained life-threatening injuries when a California Zephyr train collided with a tanker truck carrying 10,000 gallons of milk and derailed in Weld County on Monday night, representatives of Amtrak and the Colorado State Patrol said.
The eastbound train, the California Zephyr Train 6, struck the semitrailer in a railroad crossing on Weld County Road 63 near County Road 398, according to Amtrak spokesperson W. Kyle Anderson and Colorado State Patrol Sgt. Troy Kessler.
The tanker truck was traveling northbound and drove through the stop sign without yielding to the train, Kessler said. The vehicle initially was reported to be a milk truck.
The train collided with the side of the tanker, separating the trailer from the truck and splitting it into multiple pieces, Kessler said.
The train derailed on impact and the locomotive rolled onto its side, Kessler said. The train’s passenger cars, carrying 69 people, also derailed but stayed upright.
The train’s engineer, a 42-year-old man from Park City, Utah, was airlifted to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, Kessler said.
Three passengers were also taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
The truck’s driver, a 31-year-old man from Fort Wainwright, Alaska, was not injured, Kessler said. A passenger in the truck, a 58-year-old Commerce City man, was also uninjured.
The truck was associated with Dairy Farmers of America, which acknowledged the crash in a statement Tuesday and said the organization is fully cooperating with authorities to investigate the incident.
Milk from the truck and diesel from the train spilled during the crash, Kessler said. BNSF Railway responded to the scene to clean up the spilled diesel.
Alcohol, drugs and speed are not suspected to be factors in the crash, Kessler said. The incident is still under investigation and no charges have been filed.
At least one other California Zephyr train — Train 5, traveling westbound from Chicago — terminated early in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Monday night because of the crash, according to Amtrak alerts on the social media site X.
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