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I used to be a conductor for union pacific (freight).
If an engineer was in a situation where he had to suddenly slam the brakes on a potentially 14,000 ton load, chances are somebody wasn't respecting the crossing.
I'm not saying anyone deserved to get hit or killed.
Just saying it's kind of odd.
The railroad (or railway as it may be called in other countries) is pretty serious business and the laws and safety protocols are no joke.
It's also odd for a locomotive to leave a facility without being inspected by the train crew (conductor and engineer), car men (car mechanics) and roundhouse (locomotive mechanics).
Now if this was a passenger train with electric brakes and such, idk what to tell you. My experience is only with freight, air brakes and diesel/diesel electric engines.
