Two fatal train crashes in two days on same route

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In a tragic story out of Florida, two train-vehicle collisions resulted in injury and death on the same Amtrack route just two days apart.

Forbes.com reported the details of both accidents involving Amtrack trains en route from Miami to New York. On Monday four people died in a car that reportedly drove around another car and barriers into the path of a train full of passengers in Lakeland, Florida. The train had no time to slow down, and all four people in the car were killed upon impact.

Then on Tuesday a truck hauling industrial garbage collided with another Amtrack passenger train in Plant City, Florida, just west of Lakeland. In this case, the truck was crossing a marked, private railroad crossing in an industrial park.

Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Larry Coggins offers the following details about Tuesday's crash:

Witnesses tell us that it was obvious the train was coming, the train was hitting all of its whistles at the appropriate whistle marks," Coggins said. "The truck drove onto the tracks in front of the oncoming train."

The Florida Railroad Administration reports 28 accidents involving vehicles at CSX railroad crossings since 2004 in Hillsborough County, the location of Tuesday's accident.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to our section on Airline, Bus, Cruise, and Other Mass Transit Accidents.