(The following appeared on the Shreveport Times website on July 17.)
SHREVEPORT, La. — The driver of an 18-wheeler walked away from a crash with a train Wednesday.
Jorge Mandro was approaching the Kansas City Southern railroad tracks that parallel state Highway 1 about noon Wednesday when a northbound train rolled through at about 50 mph as the truck cab reached the tracks.
Mandro had loaded railroad ties and an intermodal container onto his trailer at Superior Tie and Timber, a plant owned by Kansas City Southern. He was heading west on a driveway at the plant toward Highway 1.
Caddo sheriff’s Deputy John Warner said it appeared Mandro crept forward at 3 or 4 mph as he checked the tracks. The crossing doesn’t have signal lights or gates.
“He had looked south, and there were a couple of railcars sitting there on a siding,” Warner said. “He saw those were still, then he looked north.”
The engineer blew the train’s horn but Mandro had his windows rolled up, Warner said. The tractor-trailer cab hit the engine under the engineer’s window.