Amtrak train stopped when semi stalls on Woodland tracks

The Woodland Police Department reported that a disaster was averted on Wednesday when officers assisted in removing a semi-truck that was stalled on the railroad tracks as a passenger train approached.

According to a Thursday post on the department’s Facebook page, a stalled semi-truck, described as a “fully loaded chip truck,” had come to a stop on railroad tracks near the intersection of Davidson Avenue and North Pekin Road. The rails are located close to the Woodland Action Center Thrift Store, at 736 Davidson Ave.

Robb Lipp, an administrative sergeant with the Woodland Police Department, told The Daily News that two officers arrived at the scene at about 2:42 p.m. and that the semi-truck remained on the tracks until 3:02 p.m., when two tow trucks from TLC Towing arrived to remove the both the truck and its trailer.

No reported injuries occurred and Lipp said no citations were issued.

Working in coordination with Burlington Northern Railroad and Cowlitz 911 dispatchers, an Amtrak train carrying over 80 passengers was able to stop about 50 yards from the stalled semi-truck, the passenger train was traveling at about 80 mph, the department reports.

Amtrak has a station in Kelso located at 501 South First St., but not in Woodland.

A 19-year-old man died after being struck by a freight train near the intersection of Davidson Avenue and North Pekin Road in 2024, the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office determined that the man died from blunt force traumatic injuries and his death was ruled a suicide.

Earlier this year, another man was sentenced for making threats in which he expressed a desire to blow up an Amtrak train, causing it to stop in Woodland.