Dump truck broadsided by freight train on Inman Driver attempted U-turn, got stuck on track; no injuries reported BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer EDISON - A dump truck being used in the construction of the second rail track along the Conrail line was struck by a train as it attempted to make a U-turn on Friday morning, according to Edison police Lt. Joseph Shannon. Thomas Franco, 37, of East Brunswick was operating the truck around 7 a.m. on May 18 when he attempted to pull a U-turn on the tracks that crossed Inman Avenue in northern Edison. According to Shannon, Franco was unable to complete the U-turn and got his rear wheels stuck in the gravel surrounding the train track. The workers were unable to get the truck free and could not warn the large freight train in time that a truck was blocking the track. The train impacted with the truck, though Franco was not inside, broadsided the vehicle and dragged it more than a quarter mile, Shannon said. The car was destroyed, he said. "It was quite a scene over there," Shannon said. The truck was owned by Hoffman Trucking in Iselin and had been working for the better part of eight months on the installation of the controversial second Conrail line that cuts through Inman Avenue on its way to the Ports of Bayonne and Elizabeth. Shannon said that no one was hurt in the incident and that the majority of the damage was to the dump truck. The 100- car freight train was not damaged badly, nor was any of the cargo. Several agencies were on the scene testing the structural credibility of the train track, but Shannon said it sustained no damage. Shannon said that he did not know why the man decided to make a U-turn on the train tracks.