Slippery roads blamed for fatal snowplow-train collision

PHOTOGRAPHER: Tatiana Zarnowski

Slippery road conditions caused a snowplow collision with a freight train that killed a Northumberland town highway worker during Wednesday’s snowstorm, authorities said today.

The Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office determined that the town snowplow crossed over the railroad crossing but then was unable to make it up an incline on the east side of the crossing. It slid back into the crossing where the collision with the train occurred, Sgt. Richard Washburn said.

The collision killed James Shea, 68, a part-time town highway worker, and injured 53-year-old Kerry Garnsey. Garnsey was driving the truck and Shea was the wing operator sitting on the passenger side, Washburn said.

The northbound train was traveling at 39 miles per hour and hit the truck on the passenger side, throwing it more than 100 feet, he said.