Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Officials said no serious injuries were reported when a milk truck collided with a train Thursday near Portales.
No serious injuries were reported Thursday when a Western Dairy Transport milk truck collided with a train near the intersection of U.S. 70 and South Roosevelt Road 3.
Several train cars were derailed. Officials said the truck driver was treated and released from Roosevelt General Hospital.
The accident happened about 4:45 p.m. near the Ready Roast Peanut plant outside Portales.
New Mexico State Police Officer Robert Soule said the truck was crossing the tracks when it was hit by the train.
James Driscoll, 50, was "hauling between 70,000-80,000 pounds of regular milk" driving west across the highway and "attempted to beat the train but was unable to move fast enough due to the weight," NMSP Officer Dusty Francisco told The News in an email Friday.
Francisco said an investigation was ongoing.
WDT's Regional Operations Manager John Traweek said Driscoll was home and recovering on Friday.
The railway, which goes between Clovis and Carlsbad, was closed for a little over 24 hours for repairs to the tracks and was back in service Friday evening, said BNSF's Regional Public Information Officer Joe Sloan.
Sloan said the train was empty of cargo and that three locomotives and nine tank cars were derailed in the incident. A "small amount of fluid," likely oil, came out of one of the trains but "that's been mitigated," he said.
The BNSF train had a crew of two, neither of whom were injured, Sloan said.
The train intersection, across the highway from the "Veggie Shack," has red and white railroad signs but no lights or crossing arms. Sloan said "the local road authority determines cross signs," not the railroad.
That was the second accident of the day involving a local milk truck. A truck turned over in Clovis late Thursday morning "while negotiating a turn" at the north end of the Prince Street overpass, according to Clovis Police Capt. Roman Romero. The overpass was closed for a few hours for cleanup, but traffic was flowing again by 3 p.m.
The cleanup effort in that time occupied responders from NMSP and Clovis' Public Works, fire, emergency management and street departments, with over 1,000 gallons of milk "vacuumed" up by wastewater employees, Romero wrote in an email Friday.
The driver of the semi-tractor trailer "was not significantly injured" and "was cited for improper turn," Romero wrote.
