An accident involving a truck and a train has injured one person and forced the closure of Danforth Road near Escanaba.
Michigan State Police Sargent Joe Racicot says the accident happened at 2:50 Thursday afternoon north of North 30th Street, at the Escanaba/Wells Township border.
“It appears that the truck, which was a dump truck pulling an equipment hauler, with an excavator on it, was coming down the hill, and was unable to stop for the railroad crossing, which had a train going through it at the time,” Racicot said. “There were other cars parked at the tracks as well, and the driver did a great job of avoiding those cars, and ended up colliding with the train, causing injury.”
The man’s name has not been released, and there was no immediate update on his condition. He was airlifted to Marquette General Hospital for treatment. Racicot says that Danforth Road will remain closed north of North 30th Street for up to 24 hours as Canadian National Railway crews and contractors work to clean up the mess.
The Michigan State Police press release:
At 2:54 p.m. Troopers from the Gladstone Post were dispatched to Danforth Road at the railroad crossing just west of 19th Avenue North for a dump truck pulling a flatbed trailer carrying an excavator versus train personal injury crash.
After the preliminary investigation it was determined that the dump truck was traveling east on Danforth Road with a downhill slope. A Canadian National train was currently crossing Danforth Road and was traveling north. The emergency red crossing lights, gate, and audio tone were activated. The dump truck collided into the side of the train which caused some of the train cars to derail.
The driver of the dump truck was transported to UP Health Systems – Marquette by Life Flight.
The crash is still under investigation and no further details will be available at this time. A portion of Danforth Road will be closed until further notice.
Assisting agencies include the Delta County Sheriff’s Department, Escanaba Public Safety, and Rampart EMS.