BNSF Train Demolishes Semi Trapped On High-Profile Crossing
(Catoosa, Oklahoma – October 3, 2011)
After having his 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck entrapped upon an unusually humped crossing of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks and Denbo Street in Catoosa, OK Monday morning about 8:30 A.M., a truck driver escaped his vehicle, only to see it virtually destroyed by a BNSF freight train that arrived several minutes later.
The driver was attempting to utilize the trailer’s air suspension system to extricate it from the crossing when the crossing signals and gates activated. The train carried the truck about 100 feet beyond the crossing, rupturing the tractor’s fuel tanks and spilling around 100 gallons of diesel fuel.
News media photos taken at the scene showed an extremely elevated limestone rock ballast concentration around the crossing in addition to its hump, but there was no DOT-required warning sign to inform drivers of low-profile trailer trucks of the potential for entrapment.
