Still, what happened next was terrifying in its own right.

"It was like a scene out of an action movie. Just a sickening crash, and thud, and sparks flying. The train obviously continued some way down the tracks, because it couldn't stop right away," she said.

It was the first time Basaraba even saw the car – briefly, as it hurtled past, propelled by the train. She said it looked like a silver sedan.

"Somehow they had managed to get their car quite a distance up the tracks. I still don't know how they did it," she said, adding that the women told her they thought it was a road.

"That bit was still kind of unclear. But it's really dark around there; it was a bit late; they didn't seem to know the area. I mean, they were quite young ... probably not a lot of driving experience was my sense."

Reached by phone, Metrolinx spokesperson Matt Llewellyn said one passenger was on the train at the time, but no one was injured. He noted that the passenger politely declined Metrolinx's offer to send him home on the bus.

Llewellyn couldn't immediately confirm the speed of the train, which was on the last run of the night heading to Kitchener from Guelph, but he said that in some stretches between stations, trains can be going as fast as 140 km/h.

"What's most important is that we try to educate people when these types of incidents do happen, about exactly what to do," he said.

According to Llewellyn, if your car is disabled on the tracks, the most important thing is to get out. He said people should then head in the direction they think a train will come from, because heading the other way might mean the train pushes the car into you.

He also said there's an emergency number posted at crossings that people can call to warn rail operators there's something on the tracks that shouldn't be. If that can't be found, call 911, he said.

"It's OK. If your vehicle is stuck, get to a safe place and make that call. Don't try to move your vehicle. Because the reality is, an approaching train travelling at full speed is surprisingly quiet. You literally don't hear it until it's metres from you. At that point, sadly, we've seen instances where that's too late," he said.

"Just get out, make the call. Your car can be replaced. Your life can't."

Llewellyn went on to note that the train saw very minor damage, but the car was damaged "significantly."

Despite concerns over the coronavirus, Basaraba said she brought the two girls into her car to wait for first responders, since one had left her jacket in the ruined vehicle.

They didn't have to wait long, said Basaraba. She gave a statement to police, noting that in her experience working with addictions, she didn't believe the two women were intoxicated.

The Guelph Mercury Tribune has reached out to the OPP, and is waiting to hear back about whether charges are being laid.

Llewellyn confirmed there is currently a transit safety investigation taking place.

While it's likely the most dramatic accident to happen at the railway crossing that night, it wasn't the only one.

As the number of police, fire, and railway workers on scene grew, so did the chaos.

"I gave a statement to the police, and a fire truck showed up at some points, and a neighbour who lived down the road who heard the crash," Basaraba said.

"Then the fire truck side-swiped a police cruiser. It's just one of those nights."

Fire Chief Dave Elloway said the collision was "a regrettable and very minor incident from the truck's perspective."

"It's an also regrettable, and a little bit less minor, result from the OPP cruiser's perspective."

Basaraba said she heard an officer exclaim, "it's a brand-new cruiser!"

Elloway added the Guelph Fire Department does not comment on personnel matters.

"Any time you have a collision, and I'm using that term deliberately as opposed to 'accident' ... There's always going to be somebody who's going to learn something out of it, there's always going to be an at-fault thing. You hope that you learn, that you grow, and that you don't do the same thing twice ... Virtually any collision is preventable at some level."