Union Pacific Train Strikes FedEx Van in Hill County, Killing a Passenger

What Happened North of Itasca?

At about 2 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, 2026, a Union Pacific train struck a FedEx delivery van at a private railroad crossing north of Itasca in Hill County, near State Highway 81 and County Road 4148, according to CBS News Texas and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

Investigators with the Texas Department of Public Safety say the FedEx Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van was traveling westbound on a private road and was attempting to cross the Union Pacific tracks when it was struck by an oncoming train. A passenger in the van, identified by DPS as 25-year-old Sheldon Gutierrez-Rangel of Dallas, was taken to a hospital and died. The driver of the van was also critically hurt and remained hospitalized, according to the reports.

DPS said the crossing was on a private road, where there were no crossing arms or warning sirens, as KXXV reported from the scene. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and no finding of fault has been announced — early accounts can change as the investigation continues.

Who Can Be Affected?

• The family of the 25-year-old passenger who was killed
• The driver of the FedEx van, who was left with critical injuries
• Workers who are seriously hurt, or families who lose someone, in a crash that happens while on the job

What Kind of Claim Might Apply?

Attorneys who handle Texas grade-crossing and on-the-job crash cases generally describe several paths that can apply once the facts are established:

• A wrongful death and survival claim — under Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code, the surviving spouse, children, and parents of a person killed by another’s wrongful act can generally seek compensation, and the estate can bring a survival claim of its own.
• An injury claim for the person who was critically hurt — a worker badly injured in a crash can face long hospital stays, lost income, and a difficult recovery, and Texas law lets an injured person seek compensation for those harms.
• On-the-job questions — when people are hurt or killed while working, attorneys say the analysis can involve both workers’ compensation and a separate look at whether a third party (someone other than the employer) may share responsibility. A lawyer can explain how those pieces fit together in a specific situation.
• How the crossing was maintained — the federal Federal Railroad Administration explains that highway-rail grade crossings vary widely in the warning devices they have, and that sight lines, signals, and crossing type are examined after a collision. What a private crossing did or did not have is one of the factual questions investigators and attorneys often look at.
• Preserving the evidence — attorneys often move quickly to preserve the vehicle, the train’s event-recorder data, and the findings of the official investigation before that evidence is lost.

None of this assumes fault on anyone’s part — it reflects the questions Texas attorneys say grieving families and injured workers often ask after a crash like this, and the evidence they typically want preserved before conclusions are drawn.

Why Acting Quickly Can Matter

For most Texas wrongful death and injury cases, the statute of limitations is generally two years — a lawyer can explain how the deadlines apply to a specific situation. Vehicles, train data, and crossing records can be released, repaired, or overwritten within days or weeks. Many families and injured people choose to have a lawyer send a preservation letter and begin an independent review early, while the official investigation is still developing and the evidence is still available.

Sources

1. CBS News Texas — Victim identified in fatal train crash involving FedEx truck north of Itasca
2. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth — Union Pacific train and FedEx truck collide near Itasca
3. KXXV — Itasca resident reacts after one person dies in FedEx-train crash
4. Federal Railroad Administration — Highway-Rail Grade Crossing overview
5. Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code, Chapter 71 (Wrongful Death; Survival)
6. Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code, Chapter 16 (Limitations)