UPDATED 10:48 a.m.:
Jefferson City police this morning identified Michael Lee Bosch, 29, Holts Summit, as the victim of Thursday night's pickup-train collision in the 1700 block of Industrial Drive.
The accident happened about 11 p.m., when Bosch's eastbound pickup drove into a westbound railroad car that was being backed across Industrial Drive from the north to the south side of the road.
Police said this morning that the department's Traffic Accident Reconstructionists still are investigating the possible causes of the accident.
Original story:
One man is dead after the pickup truck he was driving collided with a railroad car Thursday night at a Jefferson City crossing.
Emergency personnel were called shortly before 11 p.m. to the scene of the wreck in the 1700 block of Industrial Drive, approximately three blocks east of Dix Road.
The empty flatbed railroad car was the lone car attached to a Union Pacific train engine as it was backing up westbound at a crossing that cuts diagonally across the street. Police report the driver died after his eastbound pickup smashed into the slowly moving railroad car.
The pickup suffered "a very serious impact," said Capt. Doug Shoemaker of the Jefferson City Police Department. "We don't know the speed of the truck, but of course, this is a 40-mph (speed limit) road," he said.
Firefighters cut the crumpled pickup open to remove the driver. Ambulance personnel administered first-aid but to no avail.
The tracks at that location are marked with railroad crossing signs but there are no crossing arms or automatic signals. However, Shoemaker said railroad personnel routinely set out flares to warn motorists approaching the crossing whenever a train backs across the street. He said flares were in place during this crossing.
Investigators are determining further details about the circumstances of the crash, including the estimated speeds of the vehicles. The driver's name and age were being withheld pending verified identification and notification of relatives.