A car was hit by a train this morning, tying up traffic for several hours in northern Bartholomew County but there were no injuries.

Deputy Chief Matt Lynch with the German Township Volunteer Fire Department in Taylorsville said that firefighters were called at about 7:08 a.m. to the intersection of County Roads 800N and 200W. A car, driven by 47-year-old James Haddix, of Columbus, had tried to cross in front of a moving train and was struck in the passenger side. According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, the train’s engineer told authorities that he didn’t have time to react. Haddix’s car was pushed about 100 yards down the track, but the car’s airbags and good luck kept him from serious injury, said Lynch.

The train was undamaged.

The two-mile long train was carrying new cars and SUVs. It blocked several intersections in the northern part of the county until the accident scene could be cleared. That took about an an hour and a half, Lynch says.

Lynch points out that this is the second accident in the township in the past few months where a vehicle was struck by a train. He suggests that because there are no crossing arms in that part of the county and because of the increasing train traffic, that drivers should be extra alert whenever they are crossing train tracks. Approaching trains are moving faster than they may appear but  even a slow-moving train can cause a lot of damage.