Innerkip Ontario - The deaths of two Kitchener men Sunday near a small village northeast of Woodstock have prompted a renewed call for improved railway crossing safety.
 
Cole Bey, 27, and Raymond Friolet, 26, both of Kitchener, died Sunday afternoon after a CP freight train struck their car at a level rail crossing in Innerkip.
 
That railway crossing is marked by a cross buck, an x-shaped white sign, but doesn't feature flashing lights or gates.
 
"What we need are lights and gates. Those are what's going to help in rural Ontario to keep people safe," said Sharon von Behr, whose son, John Jobson, was killed by a VIA train in July 2011.
 
Police said the CP train was travelling west along the tracks when it collided with the vehicle at the George Street crossing.
 
Emergency crews responded at about 15:00 and the train remained stopped for several hours.
 
The car's driver, Bey, was pronounced dead at the scene.
 
The passenger, Friolet, was taken to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
 
"Cole was always there when you needed Cole," his grandmother, Debbie Bey, told Postmedia Monday.
 
"He was a wonderful kid. Hard working, lots of friends. He'd give you the shirt on his back."
 
After reading that newspaper article, Von Behr said she saw similarities in their family stories.
 
Debbie Bey told Postmedia she'd lost a daughter in a car crash in the 1990s and then Cole to the train collision.
 
Von Behr said her brother died in a car crash in 1989.
 
Her cousin was also killed in a collision with a train near Bothwell in the early 1990s.
 
"I was reading the grandmother's comment and the story was similar to my mom's," von Behr said.
 
"She lost a son to a car accident and a grandson in a train accident. We've lived that. I'm really sorry to hear the loss of those two boys. It's incredibly sad. It's a long ride. Your life will change."
 
Von Behr became an advocate for rail safety after her son's death at a level crossing near his Glencoe farm in July 2011 while he was doing errands on a day off work.
 
The 22-year-old died in hospital six day later.
 
The crossing where Jobson was struck had only cross bucks.
 
"He was a hard-working kid. He had a good job," she said.
 
"He was a great kid."
 
Von Behr noted people who drive near train tracks without flashing lights can often become unmindful to the potential threat.
 
"My son passed over that track every day. You get used to it. The lights really bring your attention to the road. A stop sign isn't enough to get your attention," von Behr said.
 
A grade crossing signal consists of flashing red lights, a cross buck, and a bell that activates about 30 seconds before the train arrives.
 
A CP spokesperson said the company doesn't provide details about how much grade crossing signals cost or the financial breakdown.
 
Both CP and the West Region OPP said the crash investigation is still ongoing.
 
OPP Const. Rod LeClair said a post-mortem was scheduled for Tuesday.
 
East Zorra-Tavistock Mayor Don McKay said he hadn't been advised by the OPP or CP, so he couldn't comment.
 
Councillors Jeremy Smith and Matthew Gillespie, who represent Ward 3 where Innerkip is located, did not respond to an email from the Sentinel-Review.
 
Statistics provided by Operation Lifesaver, an advocacy group working to prevent collisions at railway crossings, noted 24 fatalities involving railway crossings and trespassing incidents between January and May of this year.
 
More than half of those fatalities, 14, took place in Ontario.
 
Information from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) website listed 57 fatalities in 2018 involving trains, with 34 coming from trespassing incidents, and 19 from crossing incidents.
 
The TSB statistics also showed there were 1,172 collisions in 2018 involving trains.
 
Von Behr said she pushed for a grade crossing signal at the crossing where her son died, but it wasn't until she gathered other families who had relatives killed that her cause began attracting significant attention.
 
By sharing their stories of losing loved ones, they helped convince the Municipality of Southwest Middlesex to commit its portion for the crossing signal, along with funding from CN and Transport Canada.
 
Transport Canada runs a rail safety improvement program that offers funding to municipalities and railways to improve safety at crossings.
 
The program allows municipalities to have up to 80 percent of their costs covered while railways can get up to 50 percent.
 
There was more than $20 million available for 105 projects, including 36 in Ontario, in 2018-2019.
 
There are roughly 14,000 public and 9,000 private grade crossings along the more than 40,000 kilometres of railway tracks in Canada, according to Transport Canada's website.
 
"It's a shame," von Behr said.
 
"Two beautiful young boys taken too young. I know exactly the family's pain. It's a very rough go."
 
The OPP is asking anyone with information on the collision to contact them at 1-888-310-1122.
 
Greg Colgan.