Two local teenagers died after their vehicle collided with a Louisville & Indiana train at a crossing at North U.S. 31 and County Road West 550N.
Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputy Adam Warner was sent to the accident at 10:17 p.m. Friday and saw a train stopped south of the intersection with front-end damage and a gray 2015 Nissan Versa heavily damaged in a field southeast of the train tracks, deputies said. The intersection is north of Columbus near Taylorsville.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as Matthew Newland, 18, of Columbus, and the passenger was identified as Carmyn Elkins, 17, also of Columbus, sheriff’s deputies said.
It was the second double-fatality accident involving a train in the last six weeks.
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Newland was a 2018 graduate of Columbus North High School, said Larry Perkinson, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. employee and student assistance coordinator. Elkins was a junior at Columbus East High School, he said.
Elkins worked at a local grocery store and one of her teachers said the young woman had brightened her days during weekly trips to the grocery store, where the two would catch up while Elkins worked at the checkout.
“It is so hard to make sense of this tragedy that clearly took the lives of two young people far too soon,” said Jennifer Steinwedel, who had been Carmyn’s health science teacher. “Carmyn was such a beautiful soul. Her hard work ethic, attention to detail and tender heart made her a treasure to have in my classroom last year. She will be deeply missed and never forgotten by so many. My prayers go out to her family and all who love her.”
Perkinson said friends described Newland as a really genuine person who was always someone they could count on. Friends also said they had witnessed his kindness toward others and how much he loved his family.
When first responders arrived, Newland and Elkins were unconscious and trapped in the vehicle, deputies said. Columbus firefighters extricated them from the vehicle and they were treated at the scene by first responders, deputies said.
Newland was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital by ambulance and was pronounced dead at 11:24 p.m. at the hospital by the Bartholomew County Coroner’s office, deputies said. Elkins was taken to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital by ambulance and was pronounced dead there, deputies said.
A witness told investigators the Nissan was traveling south on U.S. 31, and went into the left-turn lane to turn east on County Road 550N, deputies said. The vehicle failed to yield to the southbound train at the crossing, deputies said.
The U.S. 31 portion of the intersection has a flashing red signal that stops southbound traffic in the turn lane when a train is approaching the intersection, and it was working when the accident occurred, deputies said. The train crossing is equipped with flashing red lights, but no gates, to warn of an approaching train, and the train warning lights were working when the accident occurred, deputies said.
The train’s headlights were on and the train also sounded its horn several times, the witness told deputies.
The engineer of the train, Michael Gary, 61, of New Albany and the conductor, Tristan Shafer, 21, of Salem, were not injured in the accident, deputies said.
Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting said Newland died from massive blunt force trauma to the chest. Elkins’ cause of death was not available Saturday from the Marion County Coroner’s office, as she was pronounced dead in Indianapolis. Nolting has ordered toxicology tests on the two victims, which should be back in about two weeks, he said.
The Columbus Police Department, Indiana State Police, Columbus Fire Department, German Township Volunteer Fire Department and Columbus Regional Health emergency medical services assisted at the scene.
Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers said the Indiana State Police are bringing in crash reconstructionists to determine the sequence of how the accident occurred. Details about the number of train cars behind the locomotive and the speed of the train were not being released Saturday.
Deputies are reviewing the video footage of the crash from the train dash camera as part of the investigation, Myers said.
Myers said the intersection is situated in a way that vehicles should stop in the turn lane on U.S. 31 when the light is red, or blinking red, which is to prevent vehicles from making the turn and driving on to the tracks, which are along U.S. 31 on the east side. If a vehicle does turn east, the train crossing lights flashing are supposed to stop traffic from crossing the tracks.
Second fatality
The accident is the second double fatality involving a train in the past six weeks in the Bartholomew County area.
Two people in a sports utility vehicle were killed Oct. 8 and a third was seriously injured at a northern Bartholomew County railroad crossing near Edinburgh.
That accident happened at 11:47 p.m. along County Road 900N about a mile east of U.S. 31, next to Hisada America Inc. in the Edinburgh Industrial park area.
State police said a red 1996 Jeep Cherokee was traveling east on County Road 900N when the occupants disregarded the stop sign at the railroad crossing and drove into the path of a southbound Louisville & Indiana train, which consisted of two locomotives. The locomotives were not pulling any train cars.
Louisville & Indiana Railroad officials have notified Columbus and Bartholomew County that longer, heavier and faster CSX trains are beginning to travel through Columbus and Bartholomew County on L&I’s rail system.
Louisville & Indiana Railroad and CSX Transportation won approval in April 2015 from the federal Surface Transportation Board to use L&I’s 106-mile mainline between Louisville and Indianapolis jointly and upgrade it to high-speed rail. Most of the crossings through Bartholomew County have warning lights, but only a few have gates — and there are some that only have stop signs.
“We haven’t seen this type of train traffic — the number of trains and the speed — before, and we are going to see more of these trains going faster in the future,” Myers said.
The sheriff’s department has tried to do some community education about the new high-speed rail traveling through Bartholomew County, and Myers said more will need to be done to educate drivers about safety.
The sheriff also said the department would consult with the Louisville & Indiana railroad about possible safety upgrades at the rail crossings.
“But right now our thoughts and prayers are with these families,” he said.
