FORT WORTH, Texas — A semi-truck driver escaped his vehicle moments before a BNSF freight train struck the tanker truck at a railroad crossing in Fort Worth's Diamond Hill neighbourhood on Wednesday afternoon, November 11, in a collision that sent one BNSF employee to hospital and was captured on video that has circulated widely online.
Source: Fort Worth Fire Department information, reported by Swikblog
The crash happened at about 2:40 p.m. Central Time near 601 NE 29th Street in Diamond Hill, in north Fort Worth, according to the Fort Worth Fire Department. CBS News Texas reported that the truck driver escaped before the train struck the vehicle, that police said no one was killed, and that the train's conductor also jumped to safety; one person was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Source: CBS News Texas
What happened at the crossing
According to the initial reports, the semi-truck — a tanker carrying beef tallow, a rendered animal fat used in food products, cosmetics, soap manufacturing and biofuel production, emergency officials told WFAA — was stopped on the tracks at the NE 29th Street crossing when the BNSF train approached. The driver abandoned the truck and got clear moments before impact. Footage shared online shows how little time he had: the train struck the truck seconds after he escaped.
Fort Worth police said the truck driver escaped before the collision. Authorities have not established what prevented the semi-truck from clearing the crossing before the train arrived, and no official determination of the cause had been announced in the initial reports. The images show the impact, but the footage alone does not establish why the truck was on the tracks or who was responsible.
The injured railway employee
The Fort Worth Fire Department reported that one person was transported to a local hospital in stable condition following the collision. BNSF Railway confirmed that one of its employees was injured in the crash; the railroad did not immediately release additional information about the employee's injuries. In information provided to local media, BNSF said it was working with local law enforcement to investigate the collision. A second CBS News Texas report described the driver jumping from the semi-truck moments before the train slammed into it, with one person hospitalized.
Source: CBS News Texas
This Diamond Hill train collision is a separate incident from two other North Texas road events in the same week: the fatal crash under the Dallas High Five interchange on November 9, and a separate I-35W incident in Fort Worth in which an 18-wheeler hit a stalled car and its trailer caught fire. Different roads, different vehicles, different outcomes.
Why a stopped truck cannot outrun a freight train's braking distance
The collision took place in the Diamond Hill area of north Fort Worth, where freight rail infrastructure crosses local roadways at street level. Freight trains require considerable distance to stop — a loaded freight train travelling at track speed can need a mile or more to come to a halt — which means a train crew may be physically unable to prevent a collision even after spotting an obstruction ahead and applying emergency brakes. That physics is why railroad safety guidance is directed at road drivers, not train crews: never stop on railroad tracks, and if a vehicle becomes immobilized at a crossing, everyone should get out immediately, move away from the tracks at an angle toward the approaching train's direction of travel side, and only then call for help.
For truck drivers — including the many Punjabi commercial drivers who run Texas freight corridors through the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex — a tanker or trailer that high-centres, stalls or is trapped by traffic on a crossing is one of the most dangerous situations on the road, because the driver's only safe move is the one this driver took: leave the vehicle. BNSF operates a 24-hour emergency notification line at 1-800-832-5452, and the blue emergency signs posted at crossings carry that number along with the crossing's identification number, which tells the railroad exactly where the blocked crossing is so approaching trains can be warned.
What happens next
BNSF and local authorities are investigating the crash. Investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the collision — including why the truck was stopped on the crossing — and no official cause had been announced as of the latest reports. No fatalities were reported, the truck driver was not reported injured, and the injured BNSF employee was in stable condition. Further details are expected from the railroad and Fort Worth authorities as the investigation continues.