I saw the news story about this accident, along with several other photos. The news story said the car was driven by an elderly person and accident occurred at low speed. I think what Tom sees under the car is a barricades to protect the crossing signal. There is another one partially visible. What I'm surprised about is that the little train didn't derail. These trains are not all that heavy, and you'd think the impact combined with the car's inertia would have derailed the engine. (I once hit a tractor trailer rig loaded with rolls of newsprint paper with a GP-9, and while we didn't derail on impact, we felt the weight of the truck trying to pull us off the rails.)
