Motorist injured when train hits car

A 23-year-old Lawrence man was injured when a vehicle was hung up early Saturday morning on a set of train tracks and struck by a train northeast of the city.

Lt. Kari Wempe, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, said the Union Pacific 112-car coal train was traveling about 30 mph at 2:30 a.m. when it struck the vehicle on the tracks at East 1675 Road just east of Astaris, 440 N. Ninth St.

Wempe said no one on the train was injured. The vehicle was hit in the driver-side door, and the train pushed it one-quarter mile before it could stop, she said.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical workers took the man in the vehicle to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. His injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, she said.

A 20-year-old Lawrence woman also in the vehicle refused medical treatment at the scene. The names of the vehicle’s passengers were not released.

Sheriff’s officers are still investigating the incident, Wempe said. Joe Arbona, a Union Pacific spokesman, said railroad investigators believe both people in the vehicle were intoxicated. The train moved on at 6 a.m., he said.