HALSEY - The state and Union Pacific have tried for years to close the D Street railroad crossing in Halsey, where a train slammed into a stopped semi-truck loaded with bags of grass seed Tuesday morning.

An agreement between the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Union Pacific Railroad and the city of Halsey has been signed, according to Myron Arneson, a compliance specialist with the Rail Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The agreement provides that before the D Street crossing is closed, the crossing at H Street has to be improved.

Halsey Mayor Marjean Cline said Wednesday Halsey had signed the agreement two years ago, in August 2007, and the railroad asked for a minor change later.

She said the Halsey council signed the amended agreement in February of this year.

Arneson said this morning that he now expects the crossing to be closed "in the near future."

"I'm hoping this year," he said. "But I'm a positive thinker."

At H Street, the main line, a siding and a spur are all at different levels, and they have to be made the same level. UP will do the job.

At the D Street crossing, which has a steep grade, a sign says trucks are prohibited from using it.

On Tuesday morning, a northbound UP freight with three engines and 62 cars rammed a 2005 Kenworth trailer that was high-centered on the track.

The truck's owner and driver, Juan Vitela Salinas, 52, of Pacoima, Calif., was cited for failure to obey a traffic sign and obstructing a rail crossing, Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller said in a press release.

Salinas had picked up bags of grass seed in Hermiston and was in Halsey to load more. He told deputies he was stuck on the tracks for about two minutes before the train hit the trailer.

The impact broke the trailer in two and scattered metal, wooden pallets and bags of grass seed over a large area. Some roads in Halsey were blocked for several hours until the engines, rail cars and debris were removed. No one was hurt.

A Halsey man was severely injured when his pickup was struck by a train at the D Street crossing in 2001.

Democrat-Herald