BARDANE, W.Va. — A Chicago-bound Amtrak train from DC came to a stop after colliding with a dump truck in Jefferson County.
The crash was reported just before 6 Monday evening near Luther Jones Road and Charles Town Road near the Bardane area. The train was carrying 108 passengers and heading westbound toward Martinsburg when the crash occurred, but no injuries were reported.
A witness told authorities the truck stalled on the tracks. The driver was able to escape before the train hit the truck.
In an effort to assist the train’s passengers, Jefferson County Schools Transportation Director Joyce White and routing specialist Larry Willingham dispatched multiple school buses to the scene.
“In these sorts of circumstances, Jefferson County has an agreement with first responders in the county,” said White. “If you need to evacuate a large number of people we respond to the scene and have our bus drivers standing by ready to transport.”
Those buses were not needed, as passengers were told by authorities to wait on the train.
“The drivers respond and we coordinate that effort every single time,” White added. “And of course, we have drivers that live nearby our locations so some are actually on site sometimes. So we gather up our CDL (commercial driver’s license) drivers, get the requested number and we get to the scene as fast as we can.”
A hazmat team responded after concern of a possible fuel leak. Authorities later determined that was not an issue.
The train began moving again just after 8 Monday evening.