VIDEO: Hays CISD school bus nearly hit by train in Kyle

School bus nearly collides with train in Kyle

One of the busiest crossings in Kyle was almost the most recent scene of a train collision.

KYLE, Texas - A Hays CISD school bus was nearly hit by a train in Kyle. 

The backstory:

Video captured from a City of Kyle camera showed a Hays CISD bus stopping at a railroad crossing on Center Street. When the crossing arms dropped, and the train bells rang, the bus crept too far on the tracks, trapping the crossing arm on top of the bus. 

Cars behind the school bus were frantically backing up, leaving just enough room for the bus to reverse.

No children were on board the bus at the time of the incident.

"A crossing arm did come on the bus and that can be replaced, but a human life cannot be replaced," says Delbert Crawford, owner of Changing Lanes CDL.

Crawford revealed that when it comes to railroad crossings, bus drivers are required to follow a very strict set of rules. 

"School bus drivers are taught to open their doors and open their windows and listen. Look both ways like kids when they cross the street," she said.

In the video, it’s unclear if the driver followed those specific protocols, but they did fail to have their flashers on, something that Crawford said is required at railroad crossings. In the video, the flashers were only turned on when the bus tried to reverse.

Hays CISD bus drops into sink hole

Hays Consolidated Independent School District says one of its buses dropped into a sink hole.

Dozens of trains pass through the crossing on Center Street multiple times a day, often leading to traffic backups on one of the city's most popular roads.

"The volume is crazy. I’ll say on the conservative side we have about 30 trains coming," said Emma Louise, a Kyle resident who works near the Center Street crossing. 

She says frustration leads to dangerous decision-making from drivers, who sometimes decide to drive in-between barriers when they are closed for a train crossing.

"People will decide, OK alright, we’re going to do it one at a time and one car will go around the barriers and then another one on the other side."

Center Street is the main road leading in and out of Kyle, meaning school buses are routinely traveling over a crossing which sees dozens of trains passing through each day. 

Crawford believes the only way to prevent a close call from happening again, is to have the knowledge to make sure you’re never in the situation in the first place.

"Sometimes you have to check, double check, and triple check. There is no such thing as enough training," she said.