The tractor-trailer struck by a Regional Transportation District train earlier this month pulled onto the tracks just before the safety bars came down and tried to beat the train through the intersection, according to video released by the agency.
A camera on the front of the A Line train captured the tractor-trailer trying to pull forward off the tracks in Aurora, but the driver didn’t make it in time and the commuter train crashed into the back of the trailer. At the time of the collision, just after 9:20 a.m. on Aug. 4, the trailer was still covering half of the northbound train tracks, the video shows.
The collision sent the tractor-trailer’s load flying across lanes, and the video showed a cloud of debris exploding from the crash. One safety arm closed a minute before the collision, but the one in the tractor-trailer’s lane didn’t come down until after.
The tractor-trailer driver had originally stopped on Sable Boulevard on the opposite side of the train tracks and was waiting for northbound traffic to pass before turning onto Smith Road, police said. Just after he started to pull onto the train tracks, the safety bar began to descend on his vehicle and the train crossing’s warning lights started flashing, the video shows.
He tried to reverse, but couldn’t with other cars behind him. That’s when he proceeded forward into the train crossing and tried to escape from that side of the intersection. The safety bar that initially was blocked from descending by the trailer closed behind it.
The train conductor saw the tractor-trailer on the tracks about a half-mile out and tried to stop, but there wasn’t enough space or time, Aurora police spokesperson Gabby Easterwood said. She said the conductor used multiple measures to try to stop, but didn’t specify what those were.
Three passengers on the A Line train had minor injuries and were treated on scene, Easterwood said.
Paramedics took the train conductor, who was struck by broken glass, to the hospital, according to internal RTD emails to staff from Michael Millage, senior manager of the agency’s commuter rail contract services.
RTD buses were provided to take the 57 train passengers, including four children, to the next station on the A Line to resume their commute to Denver International Airport, Millage wrote. He said the damage to the train was largely cosmetic. The safety gates, which were also damaged in the crash, could be repaired instead of replaced.
“The crossing appeared to be functioning as intended at the time of the incident,” Clinton Verseman, a safety manager with Denver Transit Operators, wrote in a follow-up email to state officials. It has since reopened to all traffic — cars, pedestrians and trains.
As of Tuesday, no one involved in the crash had been issued a citation, Aurora police spokesperson Joe Moylan said.
