(The Canadian Press circulated the following article on February 8.)
EVANSBURG, Alta. — RCMP have charged the driver of a logging truck following a crash that derailed a Via passenger train west of Edmonton last month.
Darrell Plett, 44, of Edson, Alta., was charged Tuesday with failing to stop at a railway crossing when electrical or mechanical signals give warning. The charge stems from the Jan. 31 derailment of a nine-car Vancouver-bound train near MacKay, Alta., 140 kilometres west of Edmonton.
“The truck went across the line in advance of the train with the signals indicating the train was coming,” said Evansburg RCMP Sgt. Stephen Grant. “The allegation is the vehicle did cross the tracks at that time.”
Plett suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the mid-day mishap, but rescue workers say it was a miracle that none of the 86 passengers and 15 crew members were seriously injured.
The independent trucker was hauling logs from northwestern Alberta to a Weyerhaueser Oriented Strand Board plant in Edson when the accident occurred.
CN Rail officials said the logging truck struck the train’s baggage car behind the locomotive.
They said the level crossing was marked with functioning lights and bells.
Some witnesses said logs flew off the truck on impact and some struck the windows of the glass-domed observation car.
Both locomotives and eight of the nine cars derailed, but all of the cars remained upright.
It took rescue workers some time to extricate Plett from his badly smashed truck.
Witnesses said the shaken driver rounded up his pet dog before being transported by air ambulance to an Edmonton hospital for treatment of chest and head injuries.
He is to appear in provincial court April 11 in Evansburg to face the charge.
Via officials praised the residents of MacKay for their kindness to passengers and crew.
Townspeople invited passengers to the local community hall for coffee and sandwiches within an hour of the crash.
Some of the passengers were taken to Jasper, and the rest were bused to Edmonton before being flown to various destinations.
The main CN line was reopened the next morning.