BETTENDORF, Ia. - A train conductor and engineer died early Tuesday (July 14) in a freight train crash in Bettendorf, the Des Moines Register reports.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said a Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad freight train struck a group of cars in a rail yard around 2 a.m.
The railroad identified the conductor as Andrew Reed, 27, of Savanna, Ill. The company said the name of the locomotive engineer, who was also based in Savanna, was not being released.
(Neither are members of the UTU. However, a member of the UTU Transportation Safety Team will be assisting FRA and NTSB investigators at the scene.)
Railroad spokesman Mike Lovecchio said about a dozen cars derailed as a result of the accident. All the cars involved were empty.
The railroad will investigate why the freight train traveling on the main line was diverted.
(This item appeared in the Des Moines Register July 15, 2009. Additional information added by UTU editors.)
BETTENDORF, Iowa Two persons reportedly have been killed in the crash of a Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) train here, according to reports.
Fire and rescue personnel are continuing to work at this time at the site of the train accident on the Bettendorf riverfront.
The derailment happened at approximately 2:08 a.m. July 14.
Some 83 railroad cars and two engines were involved in the accident. The top portion of one engine was sheared off.
The train reportedly hit parked train cars on a siding. Less than a dozen cars were derailed. Most of the cars were empty and there were no hazardous spills. Crews contained a small diesel leak from one of the engines.
Several fire and rescue vehicles have filled a large lot near the scene. A large blue tarp is covering what looks to be the engine and rescue personnel are working on top of it.
About a dozen cars were involved in the derailment and at no time did spillage from the accident pose a threat to the public, said Mike LoVecchio of DM&E.
Keith Holloway of the National Transportation Safety Board said it was too early to tell what may have caused the crash, but said that officials from the agency are en route to the scene.
"The obvious question is why the train impacted the stationary cars on the siding," LoVecchio said.
A neighbor at the site of a train derailment early today said it looked like one car was on top of another after the accident.
Barbara Voigt, who lives next door to the crash site, said her husband heard a rumbling around 2 a.m. and thought it was a thunderstorm. She said she didn't hear anything but noted that trains make noises all the time.
Later, the couple walked to the back of their house and she took a picture of the trains. Voigt she said it looked like one car was on top of another.
It smelled funny," she said.
The couple was told it was a mixture of diesel and corn. She said it smelled a little like insecticide.
(This item was compiled from information from the Quad City Times and WQAD-TV.)
