Three killed and two injured as Amtrak train collides with car in United States

Three people were killed and at least two injured as an Amtrak train collided with a vehicle at an unprotected crossing in the United States. The incident happened near Brentwood, California as the passenger train collided with a truck which was crossing the tracks, according to a report by East Bay Times. The Contra Costa county coroner’s office said that Mercedes Regaldo, 51, Maria Nieves, 72, and Julia Mondragon, 41, were pronounced dead at the scene while two people, were airlifted to the nearby hospital. However, none of the passengers on the train were injured in the accident.

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“It’s in a rural area where there are no guards or signals,” Steve Aubert, a fire marshal with the East Contra Costa fire protection district, said according to a report by CNN.

Aubert also said that the crossing is considered to be “highly potentially dangerous” by the authorities and collisions are common near the crossing.

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"It's in the rural part of our district, so it's a lot more farmland out there. There are no crossing arms, there are no signals at that crossover, and it's not the first accident that we've been to at that same spot. Trains are allowed to go up to 80 miles-per-hour along that stretch, so it doesn't take long for a train to catch up right at that crossing there," Aubert said in the report.

The railroad company BNSF is currently conducting an investigation into the incident, but they said that the line is open for traffic as train services resumed on the route.

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