Pennsylvania Motorist Seriously Injured by Genesee & Wyoming Train at Unguarded Crossing
(Nashville, Pennsylvania – April 23, 2018)
A 25-year-old Jackson Township resident was trapped in the wreckage of his Dodge Dakota for two hours as firefighters and first responders worked to free him after his pickup truck was struck by a York Railway (Genesee & Wyoming System) train. The collision dragged the vehicle about 350 feet before coming to a stop. It occurred at the dangerous and unguarded road/rail intersection of York Railway tracks and Little Creek Road in Nashville, PA about 8:00 A.M., EDT Monday morning.
Northern York County Regional Police labeled the grade crossing as “unguarded.” The police department did not identify the victim by name, but did say he had been transported to York Hospital, where he was admitted for treatment of crash-related, but non-life-threatening injuries.
The train, which was southbound, totaled the eastbound pickup. It was one of a daily pair of York Railway trains that traverse the crossing at a maximum allowable speed of 20 mph. The crossing had been the site of an earlier train/highway vehicle accident which resulted in injury to the driver. The crossing is unprotected by any active warning devices, such as lights and gates. It is virtually certain that this collision would not have occurred if the crossing was protected with active warning devices. Both Genesee & Wyoming and Operation Lifesaver know that lights and gates are the most effective type of protection at railroad crossings. Studies that have been conducted over fifty years ago confirm that lights and gates offer the ability to drastically reduce the number of vehicle/train accidents by as much as 96%.
York Railway, while operating only 57 miles of track in serving the Pennsylvania communities of York, Spring Grove and Hanover, is one of 121 railroads in 41 U.S. states and several foreign countries that the massive Darien, CT-headquartered Genesee & Wyoming corporation operates and controls.
