A 73-year-old woman was killed Saturday night when a freight train struck her vehicle on a road north of Seguin, state troopers say. Kathleen Preece Oliver was driving a 2020 Lincoln Nautilus when the crash happened on Tschoepe Road, just north of East U.S. Highway 90, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Texas Department of Public Safety Staff Sgt. Dila Hidalgo said the crash was reported around 8:27 p.m. Saturday, according to KSAT. Per a preliminary DPS report, as detailed by Seguin Today, Oliver's SUV crashed with the freight train on Tschoepe Road, and the investigation into exactly how the collision unfolded remains ongoing. No additional information was available immediately after the crash.
A Rural Crossing With a History of Close Calls
The Tschoepe Road crash adds to a troubling pattern in Guadalupe County. Just a few miles away in Schertz, local authorities recorded 11 vehicle-train or pedestrian-train collisions between 2022 and mid-2026, prompting city officials in August to install new warning signage and request coordination with the state and the railroad to repaint stop markings near the tracks, the same account notes.
Seguin itself has seen this kind of tragedy before. On February 5, 2019, 49-year-old Daniel Levario was struck and killed by a Union Pacific freight train while attempting to cross tracks at North Austin Street and New Braunfels Street, according to KENS 5. Seguin police officers at the time responded to an unimproved crossing where the pedestrian was pronounced dead.
Texas Leads the Nation in Crossing Collisions
The Tschoepe Road crash arrives amid a sobering statewide trend. Preliminary Federal Railroad Administration data compiled by Operation Lifesaver shows Texas ranked first among all U.S. states in total highway-rail grade crossing collisions in 2025. Nationwide, 2,274 highway-rail grade crossing collisions occurred that year, resulting in 285 fatalities and 769 injuries, marking roughly a 10% increase in grade-crossing fatalities from 2024 to 2025.
Rail safety campaigns address highway-rail crossing collisions and trespassing.
What Texas Law Requires at Rail Crossings
Under Texas Transportation Code Section 545.251, drivers approaching an un-gated or un-signaled railroad grade crossing marked with crossbucks are legally required to yield the right-of-way to approaching trains, and to stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest rail if safety requires it. Drivers should heed posted warnings when approaching railroad crossings.
Intersection safety is another concern for Texas drivers.
For now, investigators have not released further details on the physical warning equipment present at the Tschoepe Road crossing or what, if anything, contributed to Saturday's collision. The case remains under investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
