3 missing after trains collide in Texas

The fiery aftermath of a head-on train collision Tuesday in Texas.

(Image credit: Twitter.com/ABC)

published 28 June 2016

Three crew members are missing following a head-on train collision Tuesday in Panhandle, Texas.

The BNSF Railway freight trains were on the same track when they collided, The Associated Press reports, and several of the boxcars carrying assorted consumer goods burst into flames. A BNSF spokesman said each train had two crew members, and one was able to jump from his train before the crash; his condition is unknown. The spokesman also said it's not known how fast the trains were going when they collided, or why they were both on the same track.

"I don't know how anyone survived," witness Billy Brown told AP. "It's terrible. I've seen a number of train wrecks but I've never seen one like this." BNSF has said it will meet a 2018 federal deadline to start using positive train control (PTC), technology that uses GPS, wireless radios, and computers to monitor trains and stop them or slow them down when they are close to derailing or hitting another train.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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