PORTLAND, Oregon (COIN) — A pickup truck and its trailer ended up on opposite sides of a railroad embankment Tuesday morning after colliding with a train in the Argay neighborhood of northeast Portland, authorities said.
According to the Portland Fire Department, the driver of the pickup truck was attempting to merge near Northeast Sandy Boulevard, a major thoroughfare, and Northeast 141st Avenue. The pickup truck became stuck while waiting for a gap in traffic to merge, and the extended trailer was on the tracks.
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Rick Graves, a spokesman for the Portland Fire Department, said it’s important to never push in front of a train and to always play it safe when it comes to staying behind the white line and guardrails in front of the tracks.
“You should always play it safe and never cross the tracks if you cannot fully cross with your vehicle, no matter how long it is,” Graves said.
In this case, Graves does not believe that the driver was necessarily “trying to speed around and get in front of the train,” but that he simply got stuck in a merging lane at the wrong time.
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“And if you see something like someone with a long, extended trailer hanging over the tracks and they’re trying to merge into traffic, stay cool and let them in,” he added.
Graves said the train could resume service later in the afternoon.
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