About 20 people were injured Monday morning when a commuter train heading into Boston, in the northeastern U.S. state of Massachusetts, collided with a truck at a railway crossing, news reports said.

 

The truck's driver tried to warn the approaching train to stop, but the train failed to stop in time.

 

The reports said the construction equipment on the truck swung around when the truck was hit, and smashed into one of the passenger coaches and another nearby vehicle. None of the about 20 people injured appeared to be in serious condition.

 

In Arkansas, a train carrying flammable liquids derailed Sunday near a residential area, causing churches to cancel services and prompting evacuation orders for 200 residents.

 

Six tanker cars on the Union Pacific train derailed near the center of Gurdon, a town about 113 km southwest of the state capital, Little Rock. Two of the cars carried motor oil, two contained methylmethacrylate and one was loaded with acrylic acid.

 

No injuries or leaks were reported, and residents were allowed to return home later in the day. Authorities were investigating the cause of the derailment.

 

Last Friday, a train pulling 86 tanker cars traveling from Chicago to New Jersey derailed in southwest Pennsylvania. At least nine of the cars leaked ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, and caught fire. No one was injured.

 

Railroad crews were still working to clear the wreckage of the derailed train on Monday. Evacuated residents were allowed to return to homes Sunday near the bridge where the railroad cars jumped the rails and burst into flames, the reports said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)