Running a red light
Close call for Ziggy's: A dump truck & a METRO train collide and cafe almosttakes the brunt of it
When a train and a dump truck collide, no one wins.Photo by Tyler Rudick
The scene just outside of Ziggy's.Photo by Tyler Rudick
Just before 9 a.m., a METRORail train derailed after crashing into a dump truckat the intersection of Main and Capitol.Photo by Tyler Rudick
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Photo by Tyler Rudick
A METRORail train derailed after colliding with a dump truck at the corner of Main Street and Capitol Tuesday morning. Thirteen passengers, and both the train and dump truck driver, were sent to the hospital, although no life-threatening injuries have been reported.
The truck stopped just short of hitting the front windows of Ziggy's Bar & Grill — ending up only a few feet away. The truck stopped close enough that it made it a little difficult to even get out of one of Ziggy's doors. The cafe was not damaged in the incident though.
"I saw the dump truck in the intersection when the train hit it," Ziggy’s employee Jefferson Bryan tells CultureMap. "The train knocked it right into the fire hydrant."
"I saw the dump truck in the intersection when the train hit it," Ziggy’s employee Jefferson Bryan tells CultureMap. "The train knocked it right into the fire hydrant."
“We left the building right away,” Bryan continues. “There was gasoline on the street, so we weren’t sure what would happen.”
Approximately 24 Houston Fire Department units responded to the accident, which has been turned over the Metropolitan Transit Authority. METRO officials say that it appears that the tow truck ran a red light.
Scores of fire fighters, police officers and medics were still on the scene nearly an hour after the accident, which occured a little after 9 a.m. Two final passengers were taken away on stretchers just before 10 a.m., while local office workers and passersby stood on the corners to watch an MTA tow truck haul away the dump truck.
“We’re going to bring in another METRORail train and pull the derailed train off the tracks,” one MTA worker explains. Rail service will be suspended for several hours, while the intersection is cleared. A bus service has been set up to fill the gap until that section of the rail can be reopened.
