Truck is smashed to pieces by speeding passenger train after driver gets HGV stuck on Polish rail crossing
A lorry became trapped between the barriers of a level crossing in Gdansk, Poland, and was smashed apart when a passenger train travelling at speed ploughed into it. The driver was seen attempting to reverse and then drive forward to escape before the collision, which tore off the rear of the vehicle and sent debris and sparks into the air, though remarkably no one was killed. The incident has renewed scrutiny of the crossing, with local residents reportedly having pushed for nearly two decades for a separate crossing to be built there.
The train, carrying around 300 passengers, was travelling from Gdynia to Zielona Gora when it struck the lorry; the driver was hospitalised, while two passengers and the conductor were examined at the scene before being released, and all passengers had to self-evacuate. The crash triggered a full suspension of train services, delaying 279 trains by more than 17,500 minutes combined, cancelling 30 and diverting 45, with damage estimated at PLN 140,000 (about £28,000). Gdansk prosecutors have opened an investigation into the 42-year-old Bosnian driver on suspicion of creating a risk of transport catastrophe, and a similar near-miss occurred at the same crossing the following day without collision.
- Lorry stuck on Polish level crossing destroyed by speeding train
- No deaths despite 300 passengers aboard; driver hospitalised
- Crash caused mass delays; driver faces prosecution over the incident