Four Amtrak Passengers Injured in Oklahoma Train and Semi-Truck Collision
(Thackerville, Oklahoma – October 16, 2021)
Four train passengers were injured on the Amtrak Train 822 running between Fort Worth, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The collision occurred around 7:00 PM. The Amtrak train struck the semi-truck on BNSF Railway tracks near Thackerville, OK. Reports are that four passengers suffered injuries. At the time of the collision there were 100 passengers and crew members on the Amtrak train. The driver of the semi-truck remained in good condition, although shaken up from the incident.
The semi-truck appeared to get stuck on the tracks due to the dangerous elevated or humped crossing. Video of the collision speculated that a person was trying to get the train conductor’s attention. However, the impact was so intense that it caused the front of the locomotive to derail and cause damage to the rail bed. The crossing has also been the site of a previous collision with a BNSF train that also struck another vehicle stuck on the track. Although no one was injured, the repeat incidents show no sign of potential improvement.
This issue is not exclusive to semi-trucks, as a similar collision happened to a North Carolina teen on April 22, 2022. While she got out of the car and remained unharmed, her car was inevitably flipped due to the collision. Reports of similar incidents happening in Georgia and Delaware in the past year confirm that the possibility of getting stuck on tracks is higher than commonly assumed.
