A Columbus man died early Tuesday after his pickup collided with a train.
Frederick Clark, 51, was driving east on Main Street at about 3:25 a.m. when his truck collided with a train at a railroad crossing near 21st Street North. The train heading to Amory, Columbus Public Information Officer Joe Dillon said.
A driver called 911, Dillon said, and reported the pickup was approaching the tracks, moved to the center lane to avoid hitting the caller and hit a train car loaded with scrap metal. The truck left a 62-foot skidmark in the center lane.
Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant confirmed Clark’s identity to The Dispatch Tuesday afternoon after authorities notified his next-of-kin.
When the pickup collided with the train car, it hit a brake line that Dillon said automatically stopped the train.
The only person on the train was the engineer who was uninjured, Dillon said.
Flashing lights are installed at the railroad crossing but it does not include crossing barriers.
Burlington Northern Railroad, based in Fort Worth, Texas, owns the rail line involved in the collision, but Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway owns the train, said BNSF spokesman Joe Faust.
[AGR Railway] is doing the investigation,” Faust said. “It would be premature to say at this point what damage has been done to the track, if any.”
Faust said because the accident involved a fatality, the Federal Railway Administration would also be investigating the accident.
The Dispatch could not reach an AGR representative by press time.
The scene was closed to traffic until 7:45 a.m.
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