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Centralia: Driver escapes collision with train uninjured

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A man in his 70s was shook up but unhurt when his car was T-boned by a train yesterday morning in south Centralia.

It happened about 10:15 a.m. at the 700 block of South Street on the less-frequently used rail line that runs through the center of town, not the main BNSF rails that carry Amtrak and large freight trains.

He was headed eastbound and didn’t hear the train’s horn, according to the Centralia Police Department.

The engine and the handful of tanker cars it was pushing north were traveling only about 4 to 5 mph, Sgt. Kurt Reichert said.

“It was the train equivalent of a fender bender,” Reichert said.

Still, the mid-sized car was shoved 20 to 30 feet up the tracks, damaging the passenger side door, Reichert said.

There was no passenger in the car, Reichert said.

Reichert said the motorist didn’t have to go to the hospital, and his vehicle is likely repairable.

The area where the rail crosses South Street is somewhat overgrown and doesn’t utilize lights and crossing arms like the BNSF lines, according to Reichert.