Train runs through truck stuck in traffic

emergency lights

A train rammed through the trailer of a truck stuck in traffic northeast of downtown Plainfield Friday evening.

Shortly after 5 p.m., Plainfield police said officers responded to a report of a semitrailer struck by a train on the CN Railroad tracks on Main Street east of Route 59.

The westbound semitrailer was “stopped in traffic when the grade crossing signals warned of an approaching train,” according to a statement released by police.

The truck driver “thought he had pulled far enough off the railroad to clear the tracks and approaching train,” police said, but the “southbound locomotive struck the rear” of the rig, “spilling part of the truck’s load, consisting of 37,000 pounds of empty glass bottles onto the road and grade crossing. A portion of the trailer also struck the grade crossing signal post, destroying it.”

The train stopped after hitting the semitrailer, police said.

Several intersections were blocked for about three hours after the crash, according to police.

No one was injured and no hazardous materials were released, police said.

The truck driver, Marcus Palmer of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was cited for blocking a railroad grade crossing and released, according to police.