Fonda, Iowa — A Carroll man was taken to the hospital after a semi versus train crash near Fonda on Wednesday, February 12, 2025.
The Iowa State Patrol reports that at a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. , 31-year-old Zachary Jansa of Carroll was driving a 2023 Mack semi-truck northbound on 120th Avenue, one mile west of Fonda. They tell us that an eastbound train was moving on the Canadian National (formerly Illinois Central) tracks.
The report says that Jansa said he looked both ways at the railroad crossing and didn’t hear a horn so he proceeded northbound. The locomotive hit the semi-truck on the driver’s side in the rear, splitting the truck from the trailer.
An ambulance took Jansa to Buena Vista County Hospital in Storm Lake.
Jansa’s rig sustained $60,000 in damages and was totaled. The locomotive was not operational after the crash, and the first two units had to be re-railed before the train could continue.
Jansa was charged with failure to properly stop at a railroad crossing.
