Runaway Train Hits Another Head-On; 2 Die

A runaway Union Pacific train rolled nearly 10 miles with no one aboard and collided head-on with another train, killing two crew members and setting off a spectacular fire as more than 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from the engines and ignited, authorities said.

Two crew members survived the Fort Worth crash, which occurred about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday after the four-locomotive, unmanned train somehow rolled from a side track onto the line being used by a westbound freight train that had five locomotives and 114 cars, officials said.

Investigators were trying to determine what caused the unmanned train to roll free.

“That’s really the central focus of the investigation: why these locomotives rolled downhill a little over 9 miles,” said Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis.

Officials were trying to determine the speed the trains were traveling when they collided.

The track was overseen by a centralized, traffic-control system, one of the more modern forms of signaling in train movement, Davis said.

About 60 firefighters brought the blaze from the crash under control in about three hours.

Crews spent Thursday extracting the remains of the two engineers who died.

Cranes and other heavy machinery were used to remove the victims, identified as Ray V. Jagers, 45, and Roy W. Adams, 54.

Of the two crew members who escaped, one was uninjured. The other was treated for second- and third-degree burns and an injured elbow. A firefighter was treated for heat exposure.