A train collided with a double trailer semi-truck just before 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. The collision occurred about one mile southeast of La Broquerie on Road 34N, just east of Provincial Road 210.

La Broquerie fire chief Alain Nadeau says preliminary reports indicate the driver of the semi, whose license plate is from Alberta, was unfamiliar with the area and was watching the highway traffic as he crossed the tracks.

"He saw the train too late and just kept edging through the intersection so it wouldn't hit the truck and hit the trailer towards the back."

The rear portion of the second trailer was torn off by the impact and thrown over one-hundred feet away, tumbling and leaving impacts in the ground of the ditch along the way.

Nadeau says trains pack a lot of power.

"These trains are very heavy, you have no chance. This was an empty trailer, two empty trailers, aluminum trailers. It's like hitting a fly for a big train," he adds. "The train probably lifted it up in the air and shot it out. The train was going probably 50 miles an hour."

Due to the impact, the second trailer was pushed off the road, Nadeau says the trailer was pushed up against a natural gas vent.

"There are no leaks at all, it's just bent around 40-degrees. So, we just want to make sure [everything is okay] before we move the trailers, that it doesn't get [bent] further."

Nadeau adds there have been collisions at this crossing before and many other close calls. He says lights or gates to warn drivers of a train would not be a bad thing.

The pole hit, he notes, is not a hydro pole, it's an old CN communications tower which is obsolete, but will be cleaned up.

There were no injuries to the single occupant of the semi-truck.

Nadeau explains the train must now be towed back to Winnipeg and another engine attached to the front, as they're not supposed to take off after they've been hit.

Road 34N was reopened early in the afternoon.