Report into fatal train-van crash calls for better warning system at crossings

BROADVIEW, Sask. – A report into a deadly crash between a train and a van warns the risk of such accidents remains until better warnings are required at so-called passive railway crossings.

The Transportation Safety Board report is based on an investigation into a collision that killed four people in Broadview, Sask., in broad daylight in August 2012.

The report says the van was driven by a tired, 15-year-old novice driver on a road where trees and brush made it difficult to see the tracks.

The train sounded its horn and had its lights on, but struck the van broadside at a railway crossing that only had standard reflector signs.

The report says there have been 658 accidents over the last 10 years at passive crossings, which resulted in 59 deaths and 107 serious injuries.

The board says equipping such crossings with advance warning devices triggered by trains to warn drivers would improve safety.