GONZALES - Officials say a man is hospitalized after his truck was hit by a train in Gonzales Monday morning.

The crash involving a train and a truck happened at the railroad crossing on N. Felix Avenue just before 7 a.m. The truck was hit at the crossing, which lacks a guard rail and is equipped with only a stop and yield sign, and pushed a few blocks down as the train came to a stop.

A witness at the scene said the driver of the truck was trying to beat the train as it blew its horn. The woman said drivers frequently race to cross the tracks ahead of approaching trains.

"I heard the train ... we looked up and the truck was going and the train never stop blowing he was blowing from way back and i dont know if the guy's mind was gone or what," said Madeline Thompson, who witnessed the crash. "He just ...he never stopped."

The driver of the truck is in critical condition at Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge.