Train barrels into pickup truck near Denair

Driver escapes injury

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DENAIR -- A man who reportedly stopped his pickup truck on train tracks to read a map about noon today narrowly avoided injury when a freight train came.

The train barreled into the white pickup moments after the man got out, according to an officer with the California Highway Patrol.

The man was stopped at a private crossing on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad track south of Denair about noon, then looked up to see the train coming, according to the CHP.

Modesto Bee - According to the CHP, a man driving this white pickup was stopped on the tracks at a private railroad crossing located between East Avenue and Cortez Avenue along Santa Fe Road. He saw the train coming and was able to get out of the pickup without injury before the train hit his vehicle. The train stopped about a mile south of the private drive near Cortez Avenue on Friday, March 21, 2008. (Debbie Noda/The Modesto Bee)

As of about 1:30 p.m., the tracks were still blocked near Cortez Avenue. It was unclear whether Amtrak, which shares the same line, would be delayed. An Amtrak spokesman could not be reached for comment early this afternoon.