YATES CENTER, Kan. — Five locomotives and approximately 24 cars of a Union Pacific train derailed Monday morning after a grade-crossing accident with a tractor-trailer truck, a railroad spokesman told KOAM-TV.
The train’s crew was not injured, UP said. The truck driver was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Woodson County Sheriff Jeffrey McCullough.
The accident occurred about 10 a.m. at a grade crossing on 80th Road in Woodson County, on Union Pacific’s Coffeyville Subdivision. The nearest community is Yates Center, about 4 miles to the northeast. The accident scene is approximately 100 miles east of Wichita and 105 miles southwest of Kansas City, Kan.
No hazardous materials were involved. UP spokesman Mike Jaixen said most of the railcars were empty, but some were carrying cottonseed, plastic pellets, and fertilizer.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the driver of the truck, 63-year-old Gregory Lewis of Leon, Kan., failed to yield at a stop sign before crossing the railroad tracks, according to a Kansas Highway Patrol report.
UP has informed customers of a service interruption between Garnett and Neodesha, Kan., as a result of the derailment that could delay shipments for a minimum of 48 hours.
I know this person and it was a blind intersection and it’s not like an 18-wheeler can easily stop at a BLIND intersection!!!!!!!!
Thomas Kenney – thanks, that must be the correct spot. The article, however, says that Yates Center is northeast of the derailment site, hence my confusion. That’s what I get for believing it was accurate. I should have consulted my railroad atlas to determine who owns the north-south line leading from Durand.
The article also said that Yates Center is 4 miles northeast of the incident location… That is a fair distance….
Could be an interesting legal battle. Used Thomas’s coordinates and looked at the crossing in question, no street views on the rural roads but close look at the satellite view and I can’t see crossbucks on ether side of the track. Could be too small at that scale. Crossing markers are much more evident at 70th and 90th roads
“Watch me beat that train ….!”
It sounds like the truck driver survived this grade-crossing accident (he should count his lucky stars!) and therefore, yes, should have his CDL revoked. I gather the UP’s lawyers might be having a word or two with him (or his trucking firm) to recoup some of the financial damages from this wreck …..
NO he should not
It was a BLIND intersection and an 18-wheeler can’t stop easily!
The train was not blowing his horn either!
The driver (and all others like him) should have his CDL license lifted—-permanently!
This is odd. Google Maps shows the right-of-way to be abandoned west of the wye in Durand and on to the west. 80th Rd. apparently does not intersect the right-of-way, either, but 70th Rd. does. 2 street-level shots from August 2022 at former grade crossings in the area, and 2 from May and July 2014, confirm no tracks exist. I don’t see any other railroads in that vicinity.
Dan – try this spot from Google Maps…..37.835454306794034, -95.69319732545245