28 July 2008
Train and Semi-Truck Collide
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A semi-truck pulling a flat deck and a train
collided at the level crossing at Wilson Street and Lougheed Highway late Friday morning.
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Mission City British Columbia - An American truck driver
is lucky to be alive after the rig he was driving was struck by a train at the entrance to the Waldun Forest Products mill at 287th
Street near the Lougheed highway, Friday morning.
Norm Hoffman, a driver with the Mercer Trucking Co. of Spokane Washington with more than 12 years experience, crossed the railway
tracks to enter the mill, where he was to pick up a load.
What happened next is still unclear, but what is known is that the crossing arms lowered as the train approached and Hoffman's truck
was struck and knocked clear of the crossing, ending up about 10 metres down the track.
Mike Mitchell, operations manager for Mercer, said Hoffman was shaken, but not injured, and on his way home to Spokane.
"Were still investigating all the facts," he said.
The 70-car fully-loaded intermodal container train was traveling westbound when it struck the semi truck.
Although the rail line is owned by Canadian Pacific, the train that struck Hoffman's truck was owned by Canadian National.
CN spokesperson Kelly Svendson said the gates and lights protecting the crossing were in working order, and that the crash was under
investigation.
There was no damage to the train and impact was not sufficient enough to cause a derailment, she said.
However, the empty flatbed trailer Hoffman was towing detached from the truck on impact and spun around, striking and damaging the
railway crossing lights on the north side of the crossing.
Mike LoVecchio, spokesperson for CP, said the crossing lights are undergoing repair, and there will be a caution in place for all
trains traveling through the area, requiring them to slow down and blow their whistle as they approach, until those repairs are
completed.
The speed of the train was not a factor in the crash, he said.
This is the second time in little more than three years that a truck has been struck by a train at the crossing.
In 2005, a man was killed when his red Mazda pick-up truck was struck by a CP train and pushed for 100 metres down the
track.
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