Crews Called To Train-Truck Accident On Route 97

By Ari Natter,
Carroll County Times

Woodbine - A potentially horrific accident was averted Thursday when a collision between a freight train and an empty tanker truck ended with no injuries, officials said.

"This is the best possible outcome," said Sgt. Phil Kasten, a spokesman for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. "No injuries, no release of hazardous material."

The sheriff's office, with assistance from the state police commercial vehicle division, is still investigating how the accident at the Hoods Mill Road railroad crossing occurred, Kasten said.

Police said the driver, 42-year-old Kenneth Robin Seal, of Woodbine, was on his way home, attempting to cross the tracks, when the front of his truck collided with a 49-car CSX freight train headed east.

The train pushed the truck into a railroad crossing sign, ripping off its hood. Police closed Md. 97 at Hoods Mill Road for several hours while firefighters and hazmat technicians investigated the wreck.

Seal, the driver of the truck, which is registered to Conaway Transport Inc. of Sykesville, declined to comment, other than to say he was uninjured.

Ken Rubino, a resident of nearby Old Washington Road, said CSX maintenance workers had been doing work on the tracks for the past several weeks.

"As far as I know, the signals have been working properly - they are going off now," he said.

A CSX spokesman did not return messages left for him Thursday afternoon.

Rubino said Seal lives near the site of the accident and often parks his trucks in a gravel area adjacent to the tracks.

According to preliminary information released by police, neither Seal nor the engineer, C.J. Green of Cumberland, were impaired by alcohol or illicit drugs during the time of the accident. Charges in the crash are pending.

It was the second motor vehicle accident involving a train this month. On Jan. 12 a pick-up truck was struck by a freight train at a crossing on Hahn Road in Westminster. Kevin Bennett, 42, who was uninjured in the accident, told police he did not see the train coming.

Story credit: Ari Natter, Carroll County Times
Photo credit: Chris Ammann, Carroll County Times