Officials might never know why the driver of a mail-hauling truck failed to stop for a Union Pacific Railroad train Wednesday morning.
But the motorist, driving a truck for Mack Priority Transport, attempted to cross railroad tracks at Hogarth Street, northwest of Business U.S. 53, a portion of the city of Eau Claire in Chippewa County.
The eastbound vehicle was struck by the lead locomotive of a mainly empty northeast-bound train, and the driver, identified by police as an adult male, was killed, said Jeff DeGraff, a spokesman for Union Pacific, which also owns the tracks. No Union Pacific employees were injured.
“It’s difficult to understand how it happened,” DeGraff said. “Did the driver not see the train? Was (the motorist) looking down or distracted? We might never know.”
DeGraff and Eau Claire police spokeswoman Bridget Coit remind motorists to use care at rail crossings.
“We ask that you continually be diligent when driving and pay attention,” Coit said.
“If you’re driving and you’re coming up to a railroad crossing — and they are all marked in some form or another — always expect that there is going to be a train,” DeGraff said. “Then, slow down and look in both directions.
“If there is a train approaching, once the lights start flashing — (if there are lights at the crossing), that’s not a warning. That is an actual stop sign.”
DeGraff offered the following additional advice:
• If there is a white stripe on the road before the tracks, stop there. Trains can overhang the width of the tracks by up to 6 feet.
• If the crossing has gates, don’t try to go around them. If there are no gates, don’t try to beat the train.
“Sometimes, it can be deceptive how fast the train is moving,” said DeGraff, noting that a fully loaded freight train traveling at 55 mph can take up to a mile to stop. “Regardless of how fast a train is traveling, it isn’t going to stop on a dime.”
The collision, reported to the Eau Claire Police and Fire departments at 5:59 a.m., dragged the truck along the west side of the tracks, and by the time the freight train was able to stop, its four locomotives and 128 cars blocked crossings at Hogarth, Melby Street and Delbert Road.
The crossings at Melby and Delbert, west of Business U.S. 53, were reopened at about 10 a.m., according to Eau Claire police. Hogarth Street reopened around 1 p.m.
Mack Priority Transport is contracted to haul mail for the U.S. Postal Service, which has a facility on Hogarth Street. The truck involved in the collision was carrying mail and packages and serviced routes or post office boxes in Independence, Osseo, Pigeon Falls and Whitehall, according to a U.S. Postal Service statement.
“Those deliveries will be delayed until the investigation is complete, and mail is released to USPS,” the statement said.
Between 2007 and 2017, there were 546 accidents involving trains with 38 fatalities in Wisconsin, DeGraff said.
If a train is coming, “it might take one minute, two minutes for the train to go through,” he said. “Go ahead, be patient and wait for the train to go through. Your life is worth the wait.”
The Eau Claire Police Department, with the assistance of the Wisconsin State Patrol, is continuing to investigate the crash. Union Pacific Railroad also is investigating the incident.
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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU)--
Police have released the name of the truck driver killed in a crash with a train.
It happened at the railroad crossing at Hogarth Street Wednesday.
Eau Claire Police identified the driver Friday as Scott Swartz from Eau Claire. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Swartz was driving a truck that was contracted by the U.S. Postal Service through Mack Priority Transport. He was on his way to deliver mail and packages to more than 500 P.O. boxes south of Eau Claire when the crash happened.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash and are asking anyone who witnessed it to call their dispatch center at (715) 839-4972.
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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -- As investigators worked to clean up the scene on Eau Claire’s far north side Wednesday, U.S. Postal Service employees collected mail which was delayed because of the crash, which killed one person.
The truck was contracted through Mack Priority Transport and was en route to delivering mail and packages to more than 500 P.O. boxes south of Eau Claire.
"It's significant enough to where, you know, a lot of people are sitting there waiting on important things,” Kristy Anderson, a strategic communications specialist for the U.S. Postal Service, said to WEAU 13 News on Wednesday. “So, we want to make sure that they get it as soon as they can. So, we always try and pull through to do stuff like that for our customers because that's our job."
Delays in mail delivery were seen in areas including osseo, whitehall, independence or pigeon falls.
Anderson said the person killed was male, was the driver of the truck, and the only person in the vehicle at the time of the crash. She also said next-of-kin had been notified.
The crash happened at a railroad crossing at Hogarth St., which calls for drivers to yield as they approach the tracks.
"It's important that we're paying attention to all signs ... and especially at railroad crossings,” Officer Bridget Coit, with the Eau Claire Police Department, said to WEAU 13 News on Wednesday. “You know, they're marked. They're marked as a railroad crossing and a lot of people that pass in that area do so on a frequent basis. So, it's just very important that we don't get complacent and that we pay attention continuously to what's going around us."
Coit said ECPD is still trying to find witnesses to the crash to help with the investigation. If you know anything about the crash, you're asked to contact the dispatch center at (715) 839-4972.
While the cause of the crash remains unclear, Anderson said safety remains a high concern for the U.S. Postal Service.
"We have an obligation to our community and our customers as well to ensure that we do carry on and we still have a plan,” she said. “Just like everything else, unfortunately, we need to get everyone else taken care of as well and we know that's what our employees and contractors that work with us would want that it carries on."
An official with the U.S. Postal Service confirms one person was killed in Wednesday morning’s crash involving a USPS contracted mail-hauling truck and a train.
The official said the male driver of the truck was the only person in the vehicle at the time of the crash and that next-of-kin have been notified.
The United States Postal Service says one of their trucks was the vehicle involved in the train crash at the intersection of Business 53 and Hogarth Street.
USPS is telling customers that mail will be delayed in Osseo, Whitehall, Independence and Pigeon Falls. The truck contained mail and packages which serviced four routes and 200 PO Boxes in Osseo, WI; two routes and 150 PO Boxes in Whitehall, WI; two routes and 75 PO Boxes in Independence, WI; and 100 PO Boxes in Pigeon Falls, WI.
Specific delivery addresses are unknown at this time.
Eau Claire Police say Melby and Highway 53 are now back open following the crash.
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Scott M. Swartz, 35, of Eau Claire passed away on Wednesday, September 5, 2018 as a result of a vehicle accident.
He was born August 30, 1983 in Chippewa Falls, the son of Louie and Judy (Bohl) Swartz.
Scott attended St. Peter’s Elementary School in Tilden and graduated from McDonell Central High School in 2002.
He was employed by Mac Trucking and was a member of Jacob’s Well.
Scott is survived by his parents; grandmother, Mary Jane Bohl; numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, William Bohl, and Elmer and Angeline Swartz.
Scott proudly shared his birthday with his dad, grandpa and cousin.
Scott grew up playing hockey and baseball and later coached baseball. He remained a big fan of baseball, hockey and football.
Scott always had a smile on his face. He will always be remembered for having a loud infectious laugh that made everyone laugh with him.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, September 10 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Tilden. Rev. Msgr. Michael J. Gorman will be celebrant of the funeral Mass. Interment will be in the church cemetery.
Friends may call from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 9 and from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. on Monday at the Horan Funeral Home in Chippewa Falls. There will be a Christian vigil service at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at the funeral home.
Family and friends may express condolences online at www.horanfuneralhome.com
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Car hits train at Woodburn crossing, neighbors say "pay attention"
By: WANE Staff Reports
Posted: Sep 06, 2018 03:09 PM EDT
WOODBURN, Ind. (WANE) -
A vehicle crashed into a train and ended up on its top along Woodburn Road Thursday afternoon.
Around 2 p.m., emergency responders were called to Woodburn Road near Sampson Road. There, dispatchers told WANE 15 a westbound vehicle struck a train.
At the scene, a vehicle could be seen sitting on its top to the south of Woodburn Road.
Dispatchers said the driver of the vehicle suffered only minor injuries.
It's not clear yet how the crash happened.
The crossing does not have signals or arms, only a yield sign and typical railroad crossing signs.
The Norfolk Southern train had seven cars. The train was used to pull the vehicle back onto the roadway.
People who live in the area don't see crashed like this often. Michael Voors has lived in his house just a matter of yards away from the crossing for 40 years. He says wrecks at that crossing happen "maybe once every t wo or three years."
Trains can only go ten miles an hour through the crossing, but cars can go 55 miles an hour with only a yield sign to slow them down, but Voors said that should not be an excuse for people not to pay attention.
"Personally I think that's sufficient," Voors said. "If you're driving, you have to pay attention to what you're doing. Part of the responsibility of driving that vehicle is to pay attention as to where you are and what's going on around you."
A firefighter who has been with the Woodburn Fire Department for 11 years, said this was the first train versus car accident he has responded in the area.
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The train crossing on Eau Claire’s north side where the driver of a mail-hauling truck was killed when a train struck his vehicle Wednesday morning was reviewed by state officials in recent years but was not scheduled to receive upgrades to make it safer, officials said.
However, the fatality now will prompt a review of the crossing, action that could result in improvements such as more signage and a crossing gate, an official with the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads said.
“Any time there is an accident at a site, especially a fatality, we would take another look at the safety of that location,” said Heather Graves, a public policy analyst with the state railroads oversight organization.
Authorities on Friday identified the driver of the mail truck as Scott Swartz, 35, of Eau Claire. No Union Pacific employees were injured in the incident, said Jeff DeGraff, a company spokesman.
DeGraff said how the crash happened remains uncertain. Swartz was an employee of Mack Priority Transport, which hauls mail for the U.S. Postal Service and has a facility on Hogarth Street.
Seven train crossings of Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Eau Claire and Chippewa counties, including the Hogarth Street crossing, were studied in 2016 and 2017 for possible safety upgrades. Of those, five are scheduled to be addressed by the end of 2019.
In Eau Claire, crossings at Starr Avenue, Melby Street and Eddy Lane are to receive safety equipment improvements. Likewise, crossings at Pumphouse Road and Main Street in Chippewa Falls will receive updates to reduce the chance of accidents there.
Besides the Hogarth Street crossing, crossing improvements are not scheduled for 40th Street in Lake Hallie.
Eau Claire Councilwoman Emily Berge said safety upgrades at those crossings are needed. Many of her constituents in District 1, which is on Eau Claire’s north side, have expressed concerns about railroad crossing safety, she said.
“Definitely this is a step in the right direction,” Berge said.
An inspection of the Hogarth location in April 2016 recommended improved warning equipment at the Hogarth Street crossing, records show. However, after further study the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads decided current warning apparatus at the site was adequate.
The crossing is marked by yield and railroad crossing signs. No train-vehicle accidents have happened there since 1973.
Sight lines allow motorists to see oncoming trains for a safe distance, inspection records show, and traffic, measured at about 450 vehicles per day there is less than at many other crossings.
“The analysis of that crossing showed it did not meet the specifications required to make improvements there,” city engineer Dave Solberg said.
Whether that decision changes remains to be seen, Graves said. Her office has not received reports detailing the train’s collision with the mail truck, she said.
“We will review this again and then decide if any improvements at the Hogarth site would be made,” she said.
Berge has met with Solberg to discuss train crossing safety, an issue which likely will gain increased attention in the wake of Wednesday’s collision, she said.
“This is something that is on the city’s radar,” Berge said. “I have been working with city staff to make these improvements, and then this unfortunate event happened. We need to make it so it doesn’t happen.”