TRUXTON, Ariz. - A fatal collision between two BNSF Railway trains on the freight railroad's tracks in northwestern Arizona forced Amtrak to use charter buses to carry train passengers between Flagstaff and Los Angeles.
The Flagstaff Police Department is warning that the process will cause delays over the next three days while the train tracks are being repaired.
The intersections of Beaver Street and San Francisco Street are expected to have long delays as people are deboarding and boarding Amtrack buses. Police said these delays are expected to occur between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. each day.
The Mohave County Sheriff's Office said one person was killed and another injured in the wreck, which occurred Tuesday near Truxton, Arizona, which is 103 miles west of Flagstaff.
The sheriff's office identified the man killed as 63-year-old Walter Erickson of Lenexa, Kansas. Matthew Thompson, 26, of Salem, Missouri, was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Both are Herzog Railroad Services employees, according to sheriff's officials.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Wednesday the busing of passengers on the passenger railroad's Southwest Chief route between Chicago and Los Angeles will continue until BNSF reopens its tracks at the wreck site.
12 News contributed to this report.
