SEVILLE – An Amtrak Auto Train traveling southbound alongside U.S 17 smacked into a tree that fell on the tracks near Nolan Road Wednesday morning and sustained extensive damage to its lead locomotive.
The damaged locomotive was removed and a spare engine from another train was attached so Train 53 could continue on its way to Sanford, said Beth Toll, senior public relations manager for Amtrak.
Toll said the auto train left Lorton, Virginia, with 247 passengers on board on its way to Sanford. Around 7:44 a.m. it struck a tree that had fallen on the tracks damaging the lead locomotive.
Toll said no injuries were reported.
Volusia County medical and rescue units were sent to the scene but were all called back into service shortly after no injuries were reported.
A railroad employee inspecting the train and tracks said the tree probably fell onto the tracks near Nolan Road in the wake of heavy thunderstorms that swept through northwest Volusia County Tuesday evening.
A train had been through earlier Wednesday, so the tree probably came down on the tracks later Wednesday morning, he said.
“Judging by the damage to the front of the train it must have been a big tree,” the man in a safety reflective vest said.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Train versus tree: Amtrak Auto Train slams into tree on tracks, workers attach new engine
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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