Commuter train collides with truck in Connecticut, pickup driver hospitalized in serious condition

NORWALK, Conn. — A commuter train collided with a pickup truck in Connecticut on Wednesday, injuring the driver and heavily damaging the vehicle, authorities said.

The crash happened just before 11:30 a.m. at a Metro-North Railroad street crossing in Norwalk that has warning lights and gates, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. None of the 24 passengers on the train were injured, the MTA said.

The driver, an older man whose name was not immediately released, was unconscious and trapped in the mangled cab of the truck, said Ed McCabe, assistant Norwalk fire chief for operations. He was taken in serious condition to Norwalk Hospital, he said.

“There was severe damage to the pickup truck. It took us about 10 minutes to extricate him by cutting parts of the vehicle,” McCabe said.

The train pushed the pickup at least 100 feet (30 meters) down the track, he said.

The rail crossing's warning lights were on and the gates were down when firefighters arrived, and it wasn't immediately clear how the accident happened, McCabe said. Trains don't go very fast through that section because of street crossings and an upcoming tunnel, he said.

The MTA is investigating the cause.

The accident happened on Metro-North's Danbury Line, a spur of the New Haven line that runs from Norwalk to Danbury. Rail service was suspended and replaced with buses on a section of the line between Norwalk and Wilton until about 4:15 p.m., when trains resumed running, the MTA said.

Norwalk police said Commerce Street, where the train collided with the truck, reopened around 3 p.m. Local police referred questions to the MTA.