Family blames quiet zone for son's death at railroad crossing

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) – The family of a man killed by a train passing through Waukesha Christmas Eve wants to know why the train didn’t sound its horn. The railroad crossing in question is part of a federally designated quiet zone.

“They don’t want to wake the residents, but they’d rather someone to die, that don’t make sense,” said Mia Flowers.

She lost her son Anandaz Tuesday. He was hit by a train at the crossing near Grand and Williams streets.

“You’re not supposed to bury your child, your child is supposed to bury you,” said Flowers.

The train that hit him wasn’t supposed to blow its horn, because the crossing has been part of a quiet zone since at least 2008. Trains don’t whistle their arrival in quiet zones because the crossings are supposed to be safer for people and traffic.

“My son is not the first incident and he’s not going to be the last one if they don’t do something about that,” said Flowers.

Federal records dating back to 1976 show 11 other crashes at the crossing. Canadian National Railroad declined to say whether the train blew its horn Christmas Eve, citing the ongoing investigation. However, the railroad said its engineers can blow a horn in a quiet zone in an emergency. Police say Anandaz was wearing headphones at the time, but his family disputes that.

Mia Flowers dreads the silence she’ll now get from her son.

“I never got off the phone with my children without telling them I love them, and I'm never going to hear that from him anymore, said Flowers.