Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1994, December 16 - Crossing collision Smiths Falls, no injury

Note - it is unclear whether this took place on the Smiths Falls or the Brockville subs. Ottawa Citizen 17 December 1994 VIA train splits tractor-trailer, truck driver walks away unhurt SMITHS FALLS - A truck driver narrowly missed being killed Friday when a VIA passenger train split his tractor trailer in two at a level crossing. The truck driver walked away unscatched. The train carrying 182 passengers from Ottawa to Toronto tore through the tractor trailer shortly after noon. No one on the train was injured. Smith Falls police said the lights and bells at the crossing were working. Bystanders and police sureying the severed tractor trailer, owned by Day and Ross Inc., said Quesnel was lucky to be alive, The train hit the truck just behind the cab, turning it on its side. Quesnel managed to crawl out the passenger's side of the truck. Thc back half of the trailer was pitched into a ditch on the other side of the tracks. "Everything went flying everywhere," said Earl Bedor, who said he saw the collision from the picture window in his kitchen. As work crews tried to drag parts of the trailer out of the ditch, the driver sat quietly in a car, at times hunched over, resting his head in his hands.  Workers spent five hours cleaning up the debris around the tracks and removing the tractor trailer. The truck was loaded with lumber and water softener units. The train sustained minor damage, needing new headlights. It continued on to Toronto after an 80 minute delay. Stefane Quesnel of Orleans has been charged with failing to stop at a railway crossing.

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Updated 25 August 2020