7 years after deadly school bus crash, promised safety fix still not installed at Athens railroad crossing

Seven years after a Union Pacific freight train slammed into a school bus 70 miles southeast of Dallas in Athens, TX, killing 13-year-old Christopher Bonilla, the railroad crossing where the crash occurred still has no safety gates or flashing lights—despite repeated promises from state officials to make improvements.

Union Pacific says it expects installation on the long-delayed safety project to begin sometime this spring, but did not have an estimated completion date.

The crossing on Cream Level Road sits much as it did on the day of the 2019 fatal crash: marked only by a yield sign and a crossbuck, the standard X‑shaped "Railroad Crossing" sign.

The crash occurred when a school bus carrying two students crossed the tracks and was struck by a train, pushing the bus nearly a quarter mile down the line. First responders rescued the driver and a nine-year-old girl, but Bonilla, who was just one stop from home, died from his injuries. Prosecutors later dismissed criminal charges against the 78-year-old bus driver, in part because the crossing lacked active warning systems.

Residents say the crossing has long needed better safety features.

"You would have thought they would have put up rail crossings after that happened," resident Buck Bryant told the CBS News Texas ITeam.

Another local resident, Charles Lohrke, added, "It would be nice if it had some arms. It needs to be done."

A fix promised, then delayed—again and again

After the fatal crash, the Texas Department of Transportation said addressing the Cream Level Road crossing was a priority. In 2019, the agency began studying improvements. But the first plan—which involved closing the road entirely—was rejected by the City of Athens in 2023. City leaders warned the closure would slow emergency response times. On the night city leaders voted to reject the road closure, another vehicle was hit at the crossing.

These two crashes are in a series stretching back decades. Records show collisions at the site in 1981, 2014, 2019, and two in 2023. In 2014, Athens' resident Eva Lee suffered life-altering injuries when a train struck her pickup. 

"I broke like 14 or 15 ribs and punctured my lung," she told the I-Team in a 2024 interview. "I still have nerve damage."

In January 2024, TxDOT announced a new plan: add safety gates and flashing lights, with federal funds covering most of the cost and Union Pacific responsible for installation. TxDOT said work would begin that year.

It didn't.

Funding wasn't formally approved until 2025. Federal sign‑off followed months later. Now, the projected start date for construction is April 2026—more than seven years after Bonilla's death.

A statewide problem with deadly consequences

The Athens delays mirror what the ITeam has found across Texas; even after fatal crashes, it can take years for railroad crossings to get basic safety upgrades – if upgrades are made at all.

In Godley, Don Baber was killed by a train on his way to work in 2011. Gates were not installed until eight years later. In Johnson County, gates were added six years after Carroll Bryant was killed in 2010. And in Hunt County, where LaDonna Sue Rigsby died in 2015, there have been no safety improvements in the 10 years since.

In 2025 alone, 23 people were killed at Texas railroad crossings, according to Federal Railroad Administration records. More than half—14 deaths—occurred at crossings without gates or flashing lights.

In October 2025, a UPS truck driver was killed when his vehicle was struck by a train in Hunt County. According to federal records, it was the second fatal crash at that crossing. Since the first fatal collision in 2004, the only safety improvement added at the site has been the installation of two yield signs.

TxDOT officials acknowledge the scale of the problem. The state maintains more than 3,000 ungated crossings, and although Texas receives about $20 million a year in federal funding to improve them, that amount is not nearly enough to upgrade every dangerous location.

In the past two years, that funding has added gates to nearly 40 crossings.

A long-awaited fix—still not finished

As for Athens, the nearly $629,000 project—which includes gates, flashing lights, and resurfacing work—is finally moving forward. Union Pacific will pay a little more than $100,000, with federal dollars covering the rest.

But until construction begins—and is completed—drivers in Athens remain vulnerable at the same crossing that claimed a child's life seven years ago.