Train Tracks Re-opened

Amtrak

An Amtrak passenger train collided with a truck near Plant City Tuesday afternoon killing the truck driver, derailing the train and closing down the rail line until Wednesday evening.

Only a day earlier another Amtrak train hit a car that was trying to bypass downed crossing gates in west Lakeland. The four people inside that car were killed.

A spokesman for CSX of Jacksonville says the passenger train is cleared to run at 79 miles per hour at both crossings. Gary Sease adds that CSX is not considering a temporary speed reduction despite the accidents.

Sease says CSX will gather all the facts from the Federal Railroad Administration's investigations before making any decisions.

The derailed train in Hillsborough County damaged about 1000 feet of track on a line that carries about 20 trains a day.