Trains collide, An investigation is under way after a bridge used as a highway overpass collapsed following a freight train collision in Missouri.
A Union Pacific train hit the side of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train at a rail intersection near Chaffee, a town of about 3,000 people.
More than 20 rail cars carrying scrap metal, vehicles and car parts were derailed and some of them slammed into one of the bridge's support pillars, causing it to buckle and collapse.
Seven people were injured, though none seriously.
Two cars were on the overpass at the time of the collision, which happened at about 2am local time.
Five people in the vehicles were taken to hospital, along with a train conductor and an engineer. All seven were later released,
The overpass was about 15 years old and in good condition but just could not withstand the impact from the rail cars, according to Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said they will be examining several factors to determine exactly what happened.
A board member said the data and imaging recorders from both trains had been sent to Washington for analysis.
NTSB official Robert Sumwalt said: "We'll be looking at the mechanical condition of both trains. Things like the braking system and the locomotive power.
"We'll be looking at the condition of the track. We'll be looking at the signals. As you probably know, railroads have traffic signals like we have on our streets.
"We will use this information from the event data recorder and from the image recorder, the track image recorder, and we will corroborate that with all other information that we have."
The crash came a week after a commuter train derailed and was struck by another outside New York City, injuring more than 70 people and disrupting service for days.
And on Thursday, a key bridge connecting the US and Canada collapsed in northwestern Washington state when a truck hit the structure's steel framework. Two vehicles and three people fell into the chilly water.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Trains collide
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