One local man suffered minor injuries when a small passenger bus he was driving collided with a train in rural Cowley County Tuesday morning, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Donald L. Atwood, 71, was driving the bus for the Cowley County Council on Aging when an accident occurred where railroad tracks intersect 122nd Rd. about four miles northwest of Winfield. Atwood was treated for his injuries at a local hospital and later released.
The collision occurred around 10:40 a.m. as Atwood drove the Council on Aging’s Winfield-area route. There were no passengers.
Atwood, according to the highway patrol, was westbound and failed to see the southbound BNSF train. The 2006 Ford passenger bus was moving across the tracks when it was struck by the train.
Mary Woods, the Council on Aging’s executive director, said the mini bus was one of three in her organization’s fleet. The council also has three smaller vans it uses.
The agency – working with public transportation grant funds from the Kansas Dept. of Transportation – operates bus routes for the Ark City and Winfield areas.
Losing a bus from the fleet during a stretch of 100-degree days is an issue, she said. The damaged bus was the main one used in Winfield.
“We’ll work with what we have. We have a back up van,” she said. “But of course in some of these vehicles the air conditioners work better than in others. And air conditioning is important as hot as it is.”
The Council on Aging will likely have to purchase a new vehicle to replace the one damaged. The state pays 80 percent of the cost and the council will shoulder 20 percent.
Woods said she was just feeling fortunate the accident wasn’t more severe.
“Our driver is banged up a little bit,” she said. “But it could have been worse.”
No other injuries were reported.