December 18, 2025 - TexasTribune.org - 

As oil and gas industry traffic continues to speed through Pecos, TxDOT said it is working to find $194 million to build an alternative route away from the heart of the city.

PECOS — For Joe Keese, nothing had been out of the ordinary about that Wednesday last December. A teacher from the nearby elementary school had stopped by the Chamber of Commerce to pick up some stickers for her classroom, which Keese, then the chamber’s president, helped with. As the clock neared 5 o’clock, the chamber’s administrator tidied up for the day in the neighboring office — then she looked out the window.

“Is that a rocket?” she asked.

Keese, looking more closely, realized the massive object his administrator had mistaken for a rocket was a demethanizer tower, used for processing natural gas, on the bed of a motionless truck at a railroad crossing. And just beyond it, a freight train rode full-speed in its direction.

The train struck the lowboy tractor-trailer just seconds later, sending the giant container rolling through a parking lot before it slammed against the chamber’s building and obliterated its brick walls. Keese crawled through the debris amid a plume of smoke and dust, yelling out the names of his coworkers, Marina and Lorena.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/18/west-texas-train-accident-department-transportation-txdot/

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