Collision of 2 Trains Injures 4 Rail Workers

HOUSTON — Four railroad workers were injured when two trains collided on the city’s southwest side, sending up a huge fireball and thick black smoke that could be seen for miles.

The workers, two on each train, suffered cuts and bruises from jumping off just before the crash. They were taken to area hospitals, a Fire Department spokesman said.

The two Union Pacific trains collided at 2:50 p.m. Saturday, spokesman Mark Davis said by telephone from the railroad’s Omaha headquarters. The fire, apparently fed by diesel fuel, was under control in two hours.

Davis said the crash was being investigated and that railroad officials did not yet know what caused it. One train was traveling from Houston to Long Beach, and the other was going from Tucson to Houston.