1 Dead, 4 Hurt in Freight Train Collision
Two Union Pacific freight trains collided head-on Friday morning, killing the conductor of one train and leaving derailed rail cars, locomotives and freight strewn across the Southern California desert.
One train, hauling 87 freight cars, was traveling from Los Angeles to Dallas; the other, with 35 cars, was heading west from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Kenneth Leonard, 44, the operator of the eastbound train, was taken to a hospital and died late Friday. Four others had what were considered minor injuries, said Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis.
It was unclear why the two trains collided about 6:45 a.m. in the Imperial Valley desert, about 180 miles east of Los Angeles. The cause was under investigation, Davis said.
Five locomotives and seven rail cars were derailed.
As a precaution, authorities closed an underground pipeline that carries gasoline and diesel fuel from Southern California to Phoenix because a rail car had landed on the ground above it.
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