Two Libby area residents escaped injury Wednesday morning when their 1991 Jeep Cherokee was hit by a northbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe train.
Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Duane Bowers said the vehicle became stuck in deep gravel along the train tracks on Burlington Northern Railway private property, near mile post 8 on the Jennings Haul Road. Both the passenger and the driver were clear of the vehicle at the time of crash and neither one was injured.
They were trying to cross in a place that nobody should have legitimately been, Bowers said.
The patrolman said the crash occurred at about 3 a.m. Wednesday. The Jeep driven by Joshua Vanzile, 23, of Libby, became stuck within feet of the train tracks after the driver attempted to drive the vehicle between a steep rock embankment and the rails.
Vanzile and his passenger, Georgia R. Sam, 25, also of Libby, got out of the vehicle to assess the situation, and a northbound BNSF train came around a sharp curve and struck the vehicle nearly head-on.
The estimated train speed at the time of the crash was 30 mph, Bowers said. The engineer stopped the train immediately and rail service was disrupted for four hours, delaying all other trains that ran Wednesday.
Vanzile was arrested for DUI at the scene and transported to Lincoln County jail for processing. Bowers said charges of trespassing and criminal endangerment are also pending.
The crash is being investigated by Bowers and deputies from the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office, in addition to BNSF investigators.
They werent aware that the train was there until it was too late, Bowers said, explaining that the train was traveling uphill before a sharp turn and its sound was blocked by the rock embankment.
They never saw the train coming until they saw the headlight, Bowers said. At that point the train was 50 yards away and given that it was moving about 30 miles per hour it made up the distance pretty quick. They were clear of the car but not by much, so its fortunate that nobody was hurt.
The Jeeps wreckage had to be removed with a crane and BNSF workers had to inspect the tracks to ensure other trains werent at risk of derailment.
Everything was delayed because of this one case of bad judgment, Bowers said.
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at (406) 730-1067 or at tscott@missoulian.com.