Robert Schwentke, director of the upcoming Jodie Foster aero-thriller "Flightplan," has been tapped to bring Fox's "Runaway Train" to the big screen ... and no, it's not a remake of the old Jon Voight / Eric Roberts flick.

This "Train" is about "a rail company's frantic efforts to stop an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train carrying enough combustible liquids and poisonous gas to wipe out a nearby city."

"Constantine" screenwriter Mark Bomback impressed the Fox folks with his draft for the project, and apparently they're itchin' to get this one underway sooner than later.

Production is scheduled to begin early next year on the based-on-actual-events movie: "The pic is inspired by real-life events of a few years ago, when a runaway freight train carrying thousands of gallons of toxic acid hurtled along nearly 70 miles of track with no one aboard, threatening about 50,000 people."