The news said the signals malfunctioned due to heavy snow and ice. I've never seen that happen personally, but I suppose it's possible. Luckily there were no serious injuries either on the train or to the Fed Ex driver and his passenger.
I find it odd also that the commuter train was moving so fast. I know they are suppose to monitor the "cab lights" on the signals and only proceed if it indicates that the crossing is functioning correctly. Lot's of unanswered questions on this one it appears...
Here's a YouTube video of it so you don't have to deal with that pesky news site.
One thing I didn't notice until watching it again... there appears to be a pickup truck parked on the other side of the crossing (you can see it after the truck in our lane clears the crossing). Was that a signal maintainer??? Could be the reason why the signals activated AFTER the crash?
Still a nasty accident. Would like to know how much worth of packages was destroyed and why the driver didn't stop when the train was clearly approaching. Glad the driver wasn't hurt, but hopefully this serves as a lesson to him that you should always be vigilant when crossing railroad tracks.
The accident even made the news in Australia. It was extremely lucky that the train hit the trailer and not the cabin of the truck.
I think people should avoid jumping to conclusions about what caused the accident and wait for the results of the official investigation.
