By GvilleTX Newsroom
A car and a train collided at the Reed Lane railroad crossing in Gunter on Aug. 26, sending two people to a hospital with injuries Gunter Volunteer Fire & Rescue described as "not life-threatening." The crash is a nearby concern for Gainesville-area readers because federal records show both Gunter and Cooke County have recent histories of reported highway-rail grade-crossing incidents.
Gunter Volunteer Fire & Rescue reported that Gunter firefighters and Allegiance Mobile Health were dispatched to what the department classified as a major crash. The City of Gunter identifies Fire and Rescue as a volunteer department that has served the community since 1949 and handles fire suppression and related emergency services.
The verified records reviewed for this report do not state a cause of the crash or identify the people taken to the hospital.
Federal Railroad Administration inventory data lists 15 open at-grade railroad crossings in Gunter, with most of them open to the public. The public crossings are all on BNSF Railway’s Madill subdivision, a single-track line where the federal inventory lists freight movements and no passenger trains per day.
FRA inventory data gives the Gunter crossing picture this way:
| Item | FRA listing |
|---|---:|
| Open at-grade crossings | 12 public; 3 private |
| Public-crossing rail line | BNSF Railway, Madill subdivision |
| Main tracks at public crossings | 1 |
| Maximum timetable speed | 40 mph |
| Through trains listed | 4 daylight; 3 nighttime |
| Passenger trains listed | 0 per day |
| Public-crossing warning devices | 8 crossbucks; 3 gates; 1 flashing lights |
The Aug. 26 crash happened after the latest incident date in the FRA’s public Form 57 table, which currently runs through May 31, 2026. Before the Reed Lane crash, FRA data listed three reported highway-rail grade-crossing incidents in Gunter, dated 2014, 2015 and 2022, with no deaths and two injuries combined.
The local record sits alongside similar federal reports from nearby communities and counties:
| Area | Reported incidents from 2014 through latest FRA data | Deaths | Injuries |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| Gunter, before Aug. 26 crash | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Gainesville | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| Sherman | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooke County | 10 | 2 | 3 |
| Grayson County | 11 | 1 | 5 |
FRA inventory data also shows different crossing patterns in the three nearby cities. Gainesville has 18 open public at-grade crossings, most of them gated. Gunter has 12, most listed with crossbucks. Sherman has 52, with gates and crossbucks making up most of that total.
Statewide, the FRA ranked Texas first in reported highway-rail grade-crossing incidents in 2025, ahead of California. Nationally, FRA data show reported incidents were higher in 2025 than in 2015, while reported injuries were lower.
| FRA comparison | 2015 | 2025 |
|---|---:|---:|
| U.S. reported incidents | 2,080 | 2,273 |
| U.S. reported injuries | 1,049 | 757 |
| Texas reported incidents | 224 | 262 |
| Texas reported injuries | 100 | 83 |
| Texas reported deaths | 21 | 28 |
| California reported incidents in 2025 | | 181 |
Gunter has dealt with rail issues before. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that two BNSF freight trains collided head-on near Gunter in 2004, killing the southbound train engineer, injuring other crew members, derailing locomotives and rail cars, releasing diesel fuel and causing more than $2 million in estimated property damage.
Rail development has also drawn local attention. In a city notice, Gunter said it entered an initial development agreement with BNSF in May 2023 and that the agreement was mutually ended that October after residents raised concerns and objected to it.
_Editor's note: Everyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law._
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