Matthew Thompson is calling for urgent safety improvements at the Lovel Street rail crossing following the tragic loss of his wife in a fatal train collision about a month after their wedding.
Matthew lost his wife, Alyssa Thompson, on the morning of December 29, 2025, when her vehicle was struck by a train at the Lovel Street crossing in Churchbridge at around 6:30 in the morning. Alyssa was 29 years old.
The couple had been married just 35 days earlier, celebrating their wedding in Mexico in November. The couple purchased a house in Churchbridge in August of 2024.
“Alyssa was charismatic, full of life and energy, and she was just a beautiful soul inside and out,” Matthew told CTV News in an interview.
The morning of the collision began like any other until Matthew received a message from his mother-in-law, who works at the Langenburg Health Care Complex, saying an ambulance had been dispatched to a train accident.
“I pretty much instantly just threw on my shoes and ran down the street, to the train there,” he recalled in an interview to CTV.
When Matthew arrived, the vehicle involved was not visible.
“I asked what kind of vehicle it was. He said it was a red SUV. And I said, ‘I think that’s my wife,’” he said.
Alyssa died at the scene.
“It’s been three weeks, almost a month, and I still feel the same… empty,” Matthew said at the time.
A Dangerous Crossing
Matthew and Alyssa were aware that the Lovel Street crossing was not equipped with warning lights. Having lived in Churchbridge for four years, they regularly reminded each other to be cautious when crossing.
Almost exactly three years prior, a 41-year-old father was killed at the same crossing, and his two children were injured.
“If you stop behind the stop line, you see the house, you see the tree line, and you just see black,” Matthew explained. “It’s uphill, it’s slippery, it’s covered with ice most of the time.”
He said drivers must pull dangerously close to the tracks to see whether a train is approaching due to poor sightlines.
“If there was a set of lights there, at least you’d know to not even pull out to look,” he said.
Petition for Change
In the weeks following Alyssa’s death, Matthew launched a petition calling for increased safety measures at the Lovel Street rail crossing. The petition cites a long-standing pattern of fatal and serious incidents at the location over the past two decades. As of Wednesday, the petition had over 1,800 signatures and the number was consistently increasing.
The crossing is described as a hazardous blind crossing, with limited visibility and no active warning systems. Proposed safety improvements include installing lighted crossbucks, enhanced lighting, and safer crossing barriers. The petition also calls for modern technological solutions such as automatic barriers and alert systems to protect both drivers and pedestrians.
Statistics referenced in the petition note that blind rail crossings present a higher risk of accidents due to reduced visibility, leading to preventable tragedies.
Matthew is urging local and federal authorities, including MLA Warren Kaeding, Transport Minister Steven McKinnon, and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), to prioritize safety improvements at the crossing.
“What amount of money is worth all the lives that it costs there?” Matthew asked. “To me, there’s no price you could put on my wife’s life.”
CPKC stated that the crossing complies with current Transport Canada regulations and expressed condolences to the family. The RCMP confirmed the collision but did not release further details.
Looking Ahead
Many commute daily through Churchbridge to nearby communities such as Yorkton and Esterhazy, resulting in frequent traffic through the town’s rail crossings.
Matthew says he hopes his wife’s death will not be in vain.
“I’d like to hope that in the future something gets done about it, even a set of lights put in there so that we could prevent fatal accidents from happening to any other families,” he said.
The couple had already booked their honeymoon for March. Matthew and his stepson plan to take the trip together and scatter Alyssa’s ashes in a place she would have loved.
“When the person that I made the goals with isn’t with me anymore,” he said, “it’s hard to imagine the future.”
The petition continues to circulate, calling on residents and officials alike to demand immediate action to make the Lovel Street rail crossing safer and to honour the lives already lost by preventing further tragedy.
The petition can be found at https://www.change.org/p/improve-safety-at-dangerous-blind-rail-crossing