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Man and one-year-old boy die in collision between train and car in Quebec

Quebec police are not excluding the possibility that the driver of a vehicle who died when a Via Rail train rammed into his car at a level crossing planned a “voluntary act.”

ST-LIBOIRE, Que. — Quebec police are not excluding the possibility that the driver of a vehicle who died when a Via Rail train rammed into his car at a level crossing planned a “voluntary act.”

A one-year-old boy and the man in his 40s died in the incident on Monday morning in St-Liboire, east of Montreal.

“We have car-collision specialists who are here to try to establish exactly what happened where the impact took place,” provincial police spokeswoman Joyce Kemp said in an interview.

“We cannot exclude that this could be a voluntary act and, for that reason, the investigation has been transferred to the homicide squad.”

Kemp said the infant was declared dead after being transported to hospital.

The impact of the collision was so violent the SUV was cut in two.

Kemp would not confirm that the barriers at the crossing were working properly at the time, although a Via spokesman said the barriers were down and that the lights were flashing.

Kemp said the two victims were from the area.

Via Rail advised of delays on its Montreal-Quebec City route after the accident.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Monday it had sent a team to the scene of the incident.

While the circumstances of the current case remained unclear, the issue of passenger trains colliding with vehicles is a major safety issue, according to the board.

In the past decade, there have been 257 accidents involving cars and passenger trains, including 71 in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, Canada’s busiest rail route.