Lake County authorities Tuesday identified the truck driver killed in a collision with a Metra train near Hainesville, but railway police have not yet been able to determine why the driver was at the private crossing.
Jesus Castrejon, 41, was killed Monday about 7 a.m. when his dump truck was struck by an inbound commuter train. Castrejon, a Wheeling resident, was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy indicated death from blunt force injuries, the Lake County coroner’s office said Tuesday.
Castrejon was driving a dump truck over a private road that crosses the tracks south of Illinois Route 120 near Hainesville Road when his truck was hit. One person on the train was injured, but authorities said the injuries were not life-threatening.
Metra police said the engineer reported that he saw the truck approaching the crossing and sounded the train’s horn as a warning, Metra spokesperson Meg Riele said Tuesday. The engineer activated the train’s emergency brakes when the truck continued into the train’s path, but was unable to avoid the collision, she said.
The collision caused the train’s lead car to derail. The locomotive was at the rear of the train, which was carrying about 40 passengers.
Riele said the dump truck was empty, and police have not ascertained why Castrejon was at the crossing. The private crossing, which has been there since 1899, was probably put in place to provide access to farm fields, Riele said. Private crossings like the one where the collision took place are not legally required to have lights or crossing gates.
The railway speed limit on that stretch of track is 60 mph, Metra said. There is no indication the train was traveling in excess of the limit, Riele said.
