Truck driver hurt in collision with train near Mechanicsville

UPDATE: Authorities in Cedar County have not yet identified a truck driver who suffered apparently serious injuries when he ran into a westbound Union Pacific freight train Monday morning.

The accident happened just after 9 a.m. Monday on Charles Avenue in Cedar County, about halfway between Lisbon and Mechanicsville.

Investigators said the driver worked for Sdejkora Farms Trucking of rural Marion. He was on his way to a farm owned by Ken Jilovec of rural Mechanicsville to pick up a load of grain.

The accident happened just a few hundred yards north of Highway 30, within sight of the Jilovec farm.

Jilovec actually saw the accident as it happened, although he didn't know for a few seconds that there was a crash because he was located a few hundred yards away.

“I couldn't tell from there (farm) if he crossed already. But then I saw the dust and the train stopped and I came to the scene,” Jilovec said.

Authorities on the scene didn't know why the driver failed to see the train in time and stop. The rural crossing on a gravel road does not have a crossing guard or flashing lights, but there is a clear line of sight with no curves or other things that would block a driver's view of the train.

Jilovec said he remembered a serious truck accident at the same rural crossing in 1994, but a Cedar County deputy on the scene could not remember any other accidents in the last 10 years.

Lonni Koch, Mechanicsville volunteer fire chief, said the driver was fortunate to avoid hitting the front of the train and getting pushed down the tracks. That would have resulted in much more serious injury and damage. The driver of the truck did try to stop, but he hit the second engine of the train and bounced back away from the tracks.

The driver was airlifted to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Ambulance crews on the scene described the injuries as serious, but did say the driver was conscious and talking to rescuers.