Otis Orchards woman critically hurt at crossing

A woman who had just dropped her child off at an elementary school was broadsided by a train as she drove her minivan in east Spokane County on Tuesday.

Maria L. Walsh, 44, was in critical condition at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center Tuesday night, according to a nursing supervisor.

Investigators don’t know if Walsh stopped her southbound 1998 Dodge Caravan before she entered the crossing on Arden Road, south of Wellesley Avenue, and was struck by a Union Pacific Railroad engine about 8:45 a.m.

The train engine was running backward to Idaho to do “switching chores” and wasn’t pulling rail cars when it hit the van going about 48 mph, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

A detective said visibility at the crossing, which is marked only by stop signs, was good, and that drugs and alcohol didn’t appear to be a factor.