Woman struck by train in Ephrata

EPHRATA — A 58-year-old woman suffered multiple injuries when she was struck by a train while trying to cross the tracks at the Ephrata Amtrak station shortly before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Ephrata Police Chief Erik Koch said.

“I heard that she had several fractures,” Koch said. “So, both legs, arm and a possible neck fracture.”

Koch said the woman, who has not been named by authorities out of respect for her privacy, was taken to the Columbia Basin Hospital and later transported via ambulance to Wenatchee for further treatment. He said he didn’t believe the neck fracture was serious but was not certain without speaking with physicians.

Koch urged the public to be cautious when crossing tracks throughout the city because incidents like the one Tuesday are serious. He’s only known of one other instance, he said, of a person injured by a train surviving the incident. The woman hit by the train had attempted to circumvent fencing near the railway station at the Ephrata Transit Center along Alder Street near the intersection with Division Avenue East. It was unknown why she tried circumventing the fence around the construction site, where Amtrak is building a new passenger loading and unloading area, he said, but she somehow did not hear the train’s whistle and did not have enough room to avoid the train in the position she was in.

Koch asked that the public exercise caution and only cross the tracks at the three designated and marked points within city limits at Division Avenue, Third Avenue/Southeast Boulevard/Nat Washington Way (one roadway with three names) and the State Route 282 overpass.

“This (accident) would have been easily avoided by using one of those,” Koch said.

A statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, which helped coordinate communication during the incident, indicated that the woman was alert and talking when she was initially loaded into the ambulance and her injuries were not life-threatening.

According to a GCSO Public Information Officer, the train stopped as a result of the incident and blocked traffic at Division Avenue and Nat Washington Way from the time of the incident until about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Grant County’s MACC 911 dispatching center, Ephrata Fire Department, Lifeline Ambulance, Bureau of Land Management Rangers, Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Soap Lake Police, Ephrata Public Works and representatives from BNSF assisted EPD with this incident, according to a GCSO statement.

The Columbia Basin Herald reached out to BNSF for a statement on the incident but did not receive a response prior to press time. However, BNSF has safety information posted on the company’s website at https://bit.ly/BNSFSFTY.

R. Hans “Rob” Miller may be reached at editor@columbiabasinherald.com.