VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Department of Labor and Industries has fined a shuttle service $13,000 for a van’s collision with a train near Kelso that killed three people and critically injured another.
The fines for safety training failures are the result of an investigation into the March 23 crash of the Coach America van carrying Burlington Northern Santa Fe employees.
The Columbian reports (http://bit.ly/nbADfc ) Dallas-based Coach America has appealed the fine.
The crash killed 58-year-old engineer Tom Kenny and 28-year-old conductor trainee Christopher Loehr, both based in Seattle, and 60-year-old van driver Steven Sebastian of Castle Rock. Another BNSF employee, 52-year-old Dwight Leonard Hauck of Auburn, was injured.
The rail employees were being taken to a motel when the van collided with the train in a rail yard.
