Official: Upgrades urged at Amtrak crash site, but no action
Official: Upgrades urged at Amtrak crash site, but no action
MENDON, Mo. -
The chief elected official in the Missouri county where an Amtrak train slammed into a dump truck said Tuesday that residents and county leaders have been pushing for a safety upgrade at the railroad crossing for nearly three years. Meanwhile, the toll from the accident rose to four deaths and 150 injuries.
A day after the deadly crash on Monday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said people were taken to 10 hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious. By Tuesday afternoon, at least 15 people remained hospitalized. The dead - three passengers and the truck driver - have not been identified.
Amtrak's Southwest Chief was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago when it struck the rear of the truck. Two locomotives and eight cars derailed. Amtrak officials said about 275 passengers and 12 crew members were aboard.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer L. Homendy said at a news conference that the truck was owned by MS Contracting of Brookfield, Missouri, and was transporting material to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project nearby.
Homendy said investigators will download recorder information to determine the speed of the train, when the horn was blown and if the emergency brake was deployed. She said some of that information could be released as early as Wednesday. The speed limit at the crossing is 90 mph (145 kph).
The crossing in a rural area near Mendon in western Missouri has no lights or other signals to warn of an approaching train.
Chariton County Presiding Commissioner Evan Emmerich said in an email to The Associated Press that resident Mike Spencer first brought his concerns about the crossing to a Dec. 2, 2019, commission meeting. He was told to contact the Missouri Department of Transportation's Railroad Safety division. A week later, commissioners spoke with officials from the state agency and were told “it is on their plans to repair,” Emmerich said.
After that, Emmerich cited other efforts by the commission. They included a March 2021 meeting with a state Railroad Safety division engineer at the crossing site; an email sent to the Railroad Safety division on May 23 to address concerns about visibility at the crossing; and a May 31 call to BNSF Railway, which owns the track, “to express our concerns with the visibility issue” at the crossing.
In January, the Missouri Department of Transportation submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration its “State Freight & Rail Plan” plan. It included a proposal to install lights and gates, along with roadway improvements. The project was estimated at $400,000. Typically, the federal government would pay 80% and the county 20%.
MoDOT spokeswoman Linda Horn said that with limited funds available, “it takes a while to get these prioritized.” She said the project has received approval in a four-year plan that runs through fiscal year 2026.
BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent declined comment on “specific conversations” about upgrades to the crossing, citing the NTSB investigation, “however, I can tell you that BNSF has a proactive vegetation management program across our network,” she said.
Spencer told The Associated Press that he is among several people who have complained that the overgrowth of brush and the steep incline from the road to the tracks makes it hard to see oncoming trains from either direction. Spencer, who grows corn and soybeans on land surrounding the intersection, said the crossing is especially dangerous for those driving heavy, slow farm equipment.
Spencer is on the board of a local levee district. He said the dump truck driver was hauling rock for a levee on a local creek, a project that had been ongoing for a couple of days.
Earlier this month, Spencer posted a video on Facebook of the crossing that shows the steep gravel incline leading up to it.
“We have to cross this with farm equipment to get to several of our fields,” Spencer wrote with the posting. “We have been on the RR for several years about fixing the approach by building the road up, putting in signals, signal lights or just cutting the brush back.”
Homendy said “passive” crossings like the one near Mendon make up about half of all crossings in the U.S. She said there are 130,000 passive crossings nationwide and 3,500 in Missouri.
The NTSB has for years recommended actions such as closing passive crossings or adding gates, bells and other upgrades at passive crossings, Homendy said. She said the agency also has recommended technology to alert drivers to the presence of an oncoming train at crossings such as the one at Mendon that are on an incline.
“Lives could be saved,” she said.
Kyle Bullard, a 21-year-old student at Lindenwood University in suburban St. Louis, was traveling from a friend's home in Kansas City, Missouri, to Kalamazoo, Michigan, for a wedding. He fell 10 feet onto his back when his cab tipped over.
Bullard and his friend escaped and returned to help others out of the train, but he said he's still bothered by the image of a woman buried in rubble. He said someone was holding her hand, and he realized he couldn't do anything to help her.
“We were grateful because we made it out alive, but we're also sad because some people didn't. We're sorry for those families,” Bullard said. “Yeah, I survived the train crash and I helped people, but it's like, I did also see someone die. So it's just like, it is what it is. And I'm gonna have to move on from it. But it's just gonna be always in the back of my head.”
The incident in Missouri was among three fatal Amtrak accidents since Sunday.
Three people in a car were killed Sunday afternoon when an Amtrak commuter train smashed into it in Northern California, authorities said. Also, on Monday in Detroit, two people died when their vehicle collided with an Amtrak train. Police Chief James White said officers were dispersing drag racers and one vehicle sped away and tried to beat the train.
People have been injured or killed in at least six other accidents involving Amtrak trains since 2015. Last year, three people died and others were injured when an Amtrak derailed in north-central Montana as it traveled from Chicago to Seattle.
Amtrak is a federally supported company that operates more than 300 passenger trains daily in nearly every contiguous U.S. state and parts of Canada. The Southwest Chief takes about two days to travel from Los Angeles to Chicago, picking up passengers at stops in between.
------
Ballentine reported from Columbia, Missouri. Associated Press reporters Margaret Stafford in Kansas City, Missouri, and Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.
An Amber Alert issued on Monday for two Saskatchewan children has been extended into South Dakota. Saskatchewan RCMP say evidence uncovered during their investigation suggests the children may be in the U.S. state.
The man who claims to be one of the people seen 'surfing' on the roof of a moving subway train in Toronto is speaking exclusively to CTV News about his stunts and the looming threat of a police arrest.
Whether an FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is a prelude to criminal charges is unknown. The action Monday nonetheless focuses attention on the thicket of statutes that govern the handling of government records, though the department's own history of prosecutorial discretion makes it hard to forecast with certainty what might happen this time.
An Ontario nurse is facing charges in connection with the alleged assault of a two-year-old boy with “significant medical limitations” in Niagara Region.
Exposure to synthetic ‘forever chemicals’ often polluting the environment has been linked to the most common type of liver cancer, according to a recent study.
A new study found that people with regular menstruation cycles and those who typically do not menstruate either experienced a heavier flow or breakthrough bleeding after being vaccinated against COVID-19.
China on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring self-governing Taiwan under its control, amid threatening Chinese military exercises that have raised tensions between the sides to their highest level in years.
Serena Williams indicated on Tuesday she is preparing to walk away from her professional tennis career as the start of the U.S. Open approaches on Aug. 29 and her 41st birthday approaches next month. She would leave behind a legacy that extends beyond her dominance on the court.
An Amber Alert issued on Monday for two Saskatchewan children has been extended into South Dakota. Saskatchewan RCMP say evidence uncovered during their investigation suggests the children may be in the U.S. state.
An Ontario nurse is facing charges in connection with the alleged assault of a two-year-old boy with “significant medical limitations” in Niagara Region.
The man who claims to be one of the people seen 'surfing' on the roof of a moving subway train in Toronto is speaking exclusively to CTV News about his stunts and the looming threat of a police arrest.
There were 16 suspected heat-related deaths recorded in British Columbia during the sweltering temperatures that began in late July and continued into early August, coroners revealed Tuesday.
Three years after new rules came into force, the regulator overseeing Canadian airlines has not issued any fines related to passenger compensation claims for flight delays and cancellations.
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive Squad, eked out a closer-than-expected Democratic primary victory Tuesday against a centrist challenger who questioned the incumbent's support for the 'defund the police' movement.
Whether an FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is a prelude to criminal charges is unknown. The action Monday nonetheless focuses attention on the thicket of statutes that govern the handling of government records, though the department's own history of prosecutorial discretion makes it hard to forecast with certainty what might happen this time.
Taiwan warned Tuesday that Chinese military drills aren't just a rehearsal for an invasion of the self-governing island but also reflect ambitions to control large swaths of the western Pacific, as Taipei conducted its own exercises to underscore it's ready to defend itself.
Israeli troops killed three Palestinian militants and wounded dozens in a shootout that erupted during an arrest raid in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
A Nebraska woman has been charged with helping her teenage daughter end her pregnancy at about 24 weeks after investigators uncovered Facebook messages in which the two discussed using medication to induce an abortion and plans to burn the fetus afterward.
The government is working hard to meet its end-of-year deadline to deliver dental-care coverage to kids, the deputy prime minister said Tuesday, but added providing new services is 'complicated.'
Expressing concerns over the RCMP's yearslong use of spyware in major investigations, privacy and civil liberties experts say the previously undisclosed tools are 'extremely intrusive' and they are calling for stronger oversight and regulation of spyware Canada-wide.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and senior RCMP officers are defending the national police force's years-long and previously undisclosed use of spyware—capable of remotely accessing cell phone and computer microphones, cameras and other data—as part of dozens of major investigations.
A new study found that people with regular menstruation cycles and those who typically do not menstruate either experienced a heavier flow or breakthrough bleeding after being vaccinated against COVID-19.
An ICU physician is criticizing Ont. Premier Doug Ford's throne speech, saying the government 'has no plan' to help health-care workers and may not believe 'there's any type of crisis' in the province's overburdened hospital system.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a US$280 billion bipartisan bill to boost domestic high-tech manufacturing, part of his administration's push to boost U.S. competitiveness over China.
After Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the European Union moved to block RT and Sputnik, two of the Kremlin's top channels for spreading propaganda and misinformation about the war. Nearly six months later, the number of sites pushing that same content has exploded, according to a report by NewsGuard.
Two new features being introduced on WhatsApp, which will let you choose who can see when you're active, and to leave groups silently, will start rolling out to all WhatsApp users this month.
Although she is best known for her role as Sandy in the blockbuster musical 'Grease,' Olivia Newton-John, who died at the age of 73, had a career that extended far beyond the dramas of Rydell High.
Socially conscious rockers The Tragically Hip, eminent broadcaster Barbara Frum and music video visionary Director X are among the homegrown icons set to be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
Three years after new rules came into force, the regulator overseeing Canadian airlines has not issued any fines related to passenger compensation claims for flight delays and cancellations.
Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower Wednesday ahead of U.S. inflation data that traders worry will show upward pressure on prices still is too strong for the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease off interest rate hikes.
TripAdvisor has ranked the best excursions in Canada, according to travellers. The activities include driving an ATV through the wilderness of B.C., exploring snow-blanketed caves in Alberta, and whale-watching in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer whose timeless pleats made him an industry favorite, has died aged 84. He died of cancer on August 5, his office confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.
Serena Williams indicated on Tuesday she is preparing to walk away from her professional tennis career as the start of the U.S. Open approaches on Aug. 29 and her 41st birthday approaches next month. She would leave behind a legacy that extends beyond her dominance on the court.
Not only will Team Canada be playing on home soil when they face Latvia in their first game of the tournament on Wednesday, they'll be doing so during a period of intense scrutiny for Canadian hockey.
Denis Shapovalov's rain-suspended match was over shortly after it resumed Tuesday afternoon as he dropped a 7-5, 7-6 (4) decision to Australia's Alex de Minaur at the National Bank Open.
Bolivia's decision to open an alternate route to its historic 'Death Road' - a serpentine dirt path across the towering Andes hills known for its deadly cliffs - has led to a resurgence of wildlife in the area, according to an environmental group.
Bicycles have long been a means of transport in China and once outnumbered cars on city streets. Now cycling is increasingly also seen as a sport by an urban middle class that has benefited from China's growth into the world's second largest economy.
The new plan to encourage Americans to buy more electric vehicles built in North America, instead of just the United States, has cleared its tallest hurdle, and for the Canadian auto industry, the stakes are enormous.
