Railroad News
Crossing Signals Not Activated as Ballast Regulator Clobbers Car, Injures Occupants
(Hopkins County, Kentucky – May 27, 2011)
A woman motorist and her three-year-old passenger were both rushed to Regional Medical Center in Madisonville, KY, when a mechanized, on-track maintenance of way machine known as a ballast regulator slammed into their car about 12:25 P.M. Friday without activating the crossing signals or gates.
Jennifer Rickard, 25, and Kayla Casleal, 3, both of Mortons Gap, KY, had no warning of the approaching machine as they crossed CSX Railroad tracks at Kentucky Highway 813. The CSX ballast regulator, operated by Deva K. Kissun, 51, of LaGrange, GA, struck Ms. Rickard’s 2003 Chevrolet on the passenger’s side, demolishing the automobile.