Cement truck incident - 30 Nov 2011 Photographer unknown.

21 December 2011

No Charges Yet in Train/Truck Collision

Wetaskiwin Alberta - No charges have been laid as of yet following a recent collision between a cement truck and a Canadian Pacific train, just north of the city late last month.
 
"Well, we don't know. We're still doing an investigation," said Wetaskiwin RCMP Staff Sgt. Gary Rhodes.
 
"We've got a mechanical check on the truck."
 
The lone driver of the cement truck was taken to hospital as a precaution, but otherwise escaped what could have been a fatal accident.
 
Rhodes confirmed that the exact same location was the site of a fatal accident between a vehicle and a train several years ago.
 
"Typically, the train is not going to be charged, right?" said Rhodes.
 
"They have the right-of-way."
 
"We still have a couple of interviews to do, and the mechanical report to come back. At the end of that, we'll look at all the information, and see if a charge is applicable, or not," said Rhodes, who spoke to the Times earlier this month.
 
On 30 Nov 2011, at about 9:45 a.m., a CP Rail train, carrying mixed commodities, hit a Wetaskiwin Ready Mix cement truck at a marked railway crossing, about five kilometres north of Wetaskiwin, along side Highway 2A.
 
Rhodes said the impact with the cement truck at Township Road 474 and Highway 2A, drove the vehicle a kilometre down the track before finally coming to rest.
 
While the lead CP locomotive sustained some damage, none of the more than 30 rail cars fell off the North-South line as a result of the collision.
 
According to a CP official immediately after the accident, the railway crossing is marked with crossbucks, which is a traffic sign for level railway crossings, and not with a signal light or traffic safety arm.
 
Jerold LeBlanc.