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Three Union Pacific freight trains collided Wednesday, injuring four crew members and igniting a fire that shut down a Nebraska highway.
The fire may have been caused by diesel fuel from the train engines, railroad spokesman Mark Davis said. The fire was doused two hours after the 4:30 a.m. accident, and no hazardous material was involved.
Four of the six crew members suffered minor injuries, Davis said.
Union Pacific runs about 130 trains each day on the stretch of track a few miles east of North Platte, in southwestern Nebraska.
According to Davis, an empty westbound coal train was rear-ended by another empty coal train. An eastbound train carrying auto parts on a nearby track somehow got entangled in the wreckage, possibly by running into a derailed car.
The trains each had two locomotives; of the 265 cars, 29 were destroyed. Some of the cars piled up on top of each other, and one lay across part of two-lane U.S. Highway 30, which was closed. The highway was reopened Wednesday evening.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were on the way to the scene.
The fire may have been caused by diesel fuel from the train engines, railroad spokesman Mark Davis said. The fire was doused two hours after the 4:30 a.m. accident, and no hazardous material was involved.
Four of the six crew members suffered minor injuries, Davis said.
Union Pacific runs about 130 trains each day on the stretch of track a few miles east of North Platte, in southwestern Nebraska.
According to Davis, an empty westbound coal train was rear-ended by another empty coal train. An eastbound train carrying auto parts on a nearby track somehow got entangled in the wreckage, possibly by running into a derailed car.
The trains each had two locomotives; of the 265 cars, 29 were destroyed. Some of the cars piled up on top of each other, and one lay across part of two-lane U.S. Highway 30, which was closed. The highway was reopened Wednesday evening.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were on the way to the scene.
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