Wisconsin Truck Driver and Passenger Injured at Non-Gated Canadian National Crossing
(Town of Lincoln, Wisconsin)
The driver of a westbound semi-trailer truck loaded with wood scraps and his unidentified passenger was hit by a Canadian National freight train at the non-gated crossing of Wisconsin Highway 121 and Canadian National railroad tracks at about 12:10 P.M. Thursday.
The railroad crossing is just a few feet west of the Highway 121 intersection of Trempealeau County Road QQ, which enters the highway at an extreme angle just before the rail/road crossing.
Gerald S. Volkman, 50, of Winona, MN was the fortunate (fortunate that neither he nor his companion were killed) driver, as Federal Railroad Administration documents indicate that, in two previous collisions at that crossing, there had been a fatality suffered in one crash, and a serious injury in the other.
CN operates an average of two trains daily across Wisconsin 121 at a top allowable speed of 35 mph.
The addition of crossing gates at the location would certainly have prevented the accident.
