A man was hospitalized with serious injuries after he was hit by a Union Pacific coal train and hurled over an embankment Monday night in Colorado Springs, authorities say.
A second man suffered a possible broken leg when he leaped from the embankment to help the injured man immediately after the 8 p.m. accident, said Lt. Julie Stone of the Colorado Springs Fire Department.
The names of the two injured men had not been released.
The Union Pacific train, with four locomotives and 120 empty coal cars, was heading north from Nixon to coal mines in the South Powder River Basin in eastern Wyoming, said Mark Davis, a Union Pacific spokesman.
Stone said it is unclear what the man was doing on the tracks near Las Vegas and Royer streets when he was struck.
The engineer saw the man sitting next to the tracks, Davis said. The man suffered a broken shoulder, he said.
“It’s extremely dangerous” to sit next to any tracks, Davis said.
He said cars can extend 3 feet out on each side of the tracks.
Trains can appear far away and deceptively slow and they can be quiet, according to Union Pacific safety director Dale Bray. By the time the engineer sees someone on the track, it is too late to avoid a collision. It can take a distance equal to 18 football fields to stop the train, Bray said.
Last year, 486 people died and 393 were injured while trespassing on railroad property in the U.S.
The Monday night train accident happened south of downtown Colorado Springs in an industrial area where several auto junkyards are located, Stone said.
There are numerous trails that crisscross the area.
Stone said the train tracks in Colorado Springs are heavily used.
“You can’t assume any train tracks are safe,” she said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
