Two hunters from Wisconsin drove into the side of a westbound Amtrak locomotive pulling a passenger train just before dawn Tuesday morning near Knox, N.D., in Benson County.
Both men were injured and taken to a hospital in Rugby, N.D., according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.
A nursing supervisor at Heart of America hospital in Rugby said both men were transferred to Trinity Hospital in Minot. A nursing supervisor at Trinity said the hospital would not release any information about the two men, per hospital policy.
The train was delayed 75 minutes while the damaged locomotive was swapped out for a freight one borrowed from BNSF, which owns the track used by Amtrak, said Steve Kulm, an Amtrak spokesman.
None of the train crew or the 234 passengers was injured, Kulm said.
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According to the Patrol, Robert Hafemeister, 40, of Neenah, Wis., was driving a 1999 Ford pickup truck south on a rural County Road 3, a half-mile west of Knox, at 7:12 a.m. and drove into the right side of the No. 1 engine on the westbound Amtrak train that pulls a half-dozen cars on the Empire Builder route between Chicago and Seattle.
Knox is about 26 miles west of Devils Lake; the Empire Builder stops in Devils Lake and Rugby.
The train went a half-mile before stopping; the pickup came to rest facing southwest on the intersecting county road, totaled out, according to the Patrol.
Kulm said he didn't know the exact speed the train was going but said the maximum allowed at that point on the track is 79 mph.
The rural rail crossing has only cross-buck signs, no lights or crossing arms, Kulm said.
Kulm said only one locomotive was pulling the passenger train; in colder months, two locomotives often pull the Empire Builder, he said.
Hafemeister told the Patrol he didn't see the train.
His passenger was Darren Frank, 41, Marshall, Wis.
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Kulm said his understanding was that the injuries were not serious.
The two men had just left a rural residence on their way to hunt, according to the Patrol.
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send e-mail to slee@gfherald.com .
