(The following story by Paul Cowan appeared on the Edmonton Sun website on February 2.)
MACKAY, Alberta — A collision between a logging truck and a Via Rail train Monday came as no surprise to some residents living near the scene. Some people living near the crossing at MacKay, about 137 km west of Edmonton, have been watching logging trucks race trains there for years.
“Some of the logging trucks don’t even slow down,” said Jennifer Vader, who lives close to the crossing.
“You can tell which ones are going to stop and which won’t.
“It gets scary but they’re on winter rates and they say they have to keep the wood moving.”
But Vader also said that around the time of the crash, just before 1:15 p.m., the sun was in a position to blind some drivers to the warning lights at the crossing.
Ben Decoteau has lived next to the tracks near the crossing for 30 years and this is the first bad wreck he’s seen.
Decoteau said the crossing at MacKay has both warning lights and bells.
“Sometimes people stop for them, sometimes they don’t,” he said.
RCMP, Transport Canada, Canadian National Railways Police, Via Rail and Alberta Transportation are all investigating the crash which resulted in only one person – the 44-year-old truck driver – being hospitalized.
The owner of the logging truck, Edson-based Richard Penner, said his safety officer is also investigating.
“At this point because of the investigation there is not a lot I can tell you,” Penner said. “The driver’s injuries are not life-threatening but he’s still in hospital and all our thoughts are with his family.”
The driver, from Edson, was reported to be in a stable condition yesterday.
CN crews spent most of Monday night working to clear the damaged and derailed train cars off the line and replace damaged track. The line was reopened to rail traffic at 5:15 a.m.
The two locomotives pulling the train were moved to a siding. Via Rail engineers will decide which of the nine cars they were pulling will need to be loaded onto flat cars for transportation to a repair workshop.
Via Rail spokesman Malcolm Andrews said 30 of the passengers were bussed back to Edmonton where they spent the night before flying on to Vancouver or home. The remaining 56 went by bus on to Jasper, which for many was their final destination.