(Jackson, Tennessee – February 10, 2012)
Two residents of Brownsville, TN were killed about 4:00 P.M. Friday afternoon when they tried to cross Western Tennessee Railroad tracks in front of a northbound CSX freight train at the non-gated crossing of Westmoreland Street and WTNN railroad tracks in Brownsville.
The car, driven by Anthony Mitchell, 30, and also occupied by Anita Williams, 22, both of Brownsville, TN, was struck by the train, knocked off the railroad tracks, and came to rest upside down after rolling down an embankment. Both apparently died instantly from the collision.
Although the crossing is actually on Westmoreland Street, which connects East College Street, which parallels the railroad tracks on the west side, and Boyd Avenue, which parallels the tracks on the east side. The Federal Railroad Administration’s railroad crossing inventory erroneously labels the crossing as the East College crossing. The crossing has lights and bells, but no gates to prevent accidents such as occurred Friday.
CSX uses the tracks of the Western Tennessee Railroad, which are leased from Norfolk Southern, with the short-line railroad owned by an industrial conglomerate in Sea Bright, NJ.
