Emergency personnel responded shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday to a crash involving a Union Pacific train and a passenger car south of Valmeyer in the area of Bluff Road north of Outlet Road and south of KK Road.

The car, a Mazda, was unoccupied upon Monroe County Sheriff’s Department arrival, according to emergency radio dispatch. All train traffic was stopped as personnel worked to investigate the incident. The Valmeyer Fire Department and Monroe County EMS also responded to the scene.

Police attempted to make contact with the driver of the abandoned car throughout the weekend.

“It was tore up pretty bad,” Valmeyer Fire Chief Floyd Floarke said of the car’s condition following the collision.

He said the train was traveling north on the tracks when it struck the car at a marked crossing. The car apparently had been stopped in the train’s path only a short time prior to the crash.

“The engine was still warm when we got there,” Floarke said.

On Monday, Monroe County Sheriff Neal Rohlfing identified the driver of the car as Justin Deluca, 41, of Waterloo.

He said the incident remains under investigation.