Car barrels into parked train cars in Lost Creek; three flown
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Union Township Police Chief Phil Beaver looks over the scene of Monday's vehicle accident in Lost Creek on May 6, 2024.
LOST CREEK – Three people were airlifted to area trauma centers after a vehicle struck train cars parked along the long-inactive Shenandoah Industrial Track.
The crash happened around 7pm at Route 54 and Colorado Road in West Mahanoy Township, at the former railroad crossing near the Shenandoah Youth Soccer Association field.
A silver Dodge Charger sedan headed west on Route 54 drove straight off the highway at the turn, along the railroad tracks and into a line of coal hoppers. The impact knocked one of the hoppers off the rails and caused damage to the tracks.
Five people were injured, three of whom were taken to the soccer field to awaiting medical helicopters from Geisinger LifeFlight and Lehigh Valley Health Network MedEvac.
They were tended to by firefighters from William Penn and Altamont, as well as medical personnel from Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Frackville, and Schuylkill EMS.
At least seven ambulances responded, including four from Shenandoah.
Girardville firefighters secured the landing zone.
West Mahanoy Township Police are investigating.
The railroad tracks, inactive for decades and ending at Route 54 despite signage suggesting otherwise, have been used for the past year to store coal cars. For many years prior, the trackage was left abandoned and overgrown.
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