CSX freight train splits semi on tracks near Indianpolis

· Sunday, October 11, 2020

(Photo: Pendleton/Falls Creek Township Fire Department/Facebook)

A CSX freight train slammed into a tractor trailer stuck on the tracks about 15 miles northeast of Indianapolis, according to footage of the accident obtained by WISH-TV from a local bystander.

The Pendleton/Falls Creek Township Fire Department said in a Facebook post that the collision occurred Friday evening. The train pushed the cab down the track a couple hundred yards from the point of impact and both the truck and the train caught fire. Crews were able to extinguish the fire and no one was injured because the driver got out of the truck before the impact.

Witnesses told local news outlets that road construction had caused traffic and that construction workers tried to move the truck off the tracks before the train arrived.

Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was runner up for News Journalist and Supply Chain Journalist of the Year in the Seahorse Freight Association's 2024 journalism award competition. In December 2022, Eric was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist. He won the group's Environmental Journalist of the Year award in 2014 and was the 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. He has appeared on Marketplace, ABC News and National Public Radio to talk about logistics issues in the news. Eric is based in Vancouver, Washington. He can be reached for comments and tips at ekulisch@freightwaves.com