Man Killed When Train Collides With Truck In Weld County
FORT LUPTON, Colo. (CBS4) - One person is dead after a truck and train crash in Weld County early Friday morning.
The man who was killed was driving a Toyota Tundra pickup truck. Police said they think he was traveling west on a county road and blew through a stop sign.
The train was traveling about 55 mph when it struck the pickup at 4:55 a.m. and dragged it about 200 yards.
The exact location of the crash is between Brighton and Fort Lupton on County Road 8 at the railroad tracks, which are just east of County Road 27 and east of Highway 85.
Fort Lupton police spokesman Sgt. William VanArsdele said the intersection where the crash happened is a "passive railroad grade crossing."
"It has a stop sign and cross buck signs but it doesn't have the automatic gates, bells or whistles, that kind of thing," he said.
VanArsdele said investigators interviewed people on the train and a witness who was nearby about what happened.
"From that it appears that he was just driving down the street. He did not appear to be speeding or racing the train," VanArsdele said.
Police do not believe alcohol was a factor in the collision.
A Union Pacific Railroad spokesman said the protocol for trains traveling through intersections at a passive railroad grade crossing is that trains must sound their horn when coming to, through and leaving the intersection.
As part of the investigation Union Pacific and police will confirm whether the conductor used the horn.
"After the train impacted the truck the truck came off the west side of the tracks. Somewhere, halfway between impact and the point of rest of the truck the driver came out of the truck," said VanArsdale.
