Posted on 06/28/2022 9:28:34 PM PDT by Morgana
Missouri officials have declared a 'large fatality event' after a passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago hit a dump truck that was blocking a public crossing and completely derailed on Monday.
Three people are dead -- including two on the train and one in the dump truck -- after the train's eight cars and its two locomotives came off the tracks, officials with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
At least 50 people were injured, the Chariton County Ambulance Service said. At least nine patients were being taken to a University of Missouri Health Care hospital in Columbia, Missouri, about 90 miles away, several of them arriving by helicopter.
State Highway Patrol Lt. Eric Brown said at a 5pm press conference there was still an 'active and ongoing investigation at the scene' but that all the injured had been transported to area hospitals.
The wreck occurred at 12.42pm CT Monday, when the Southwest Chief Train 4 collided with a truck that was obstructing a public crossing and came off the tracks near Mendon, Missouri, about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, Amtrak confirmed to DailyMail.com.
The collision occurred at the uncontrolled Porch Prairie Avenue gravel road crossing, which has no electronic warning devices or gates, officials said.
Amtrak said in a statement that there were 243 passengers and 12 crew members aboard at the time of the crash. State troopers said the total number of people on the train may have been lower, but estimated that it was at least 200.
The federal National Transportation Safety Board is deploying a 14-member 'go-team' to the site of the derailment to investigate. NTSB Chair Jennifer L. Homendy will join to serve as the spokesperson on the scene, the agency said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Adding crossing guards and warnings was something the state was responsible for. It was on their to-do list.
The state should have been on this earlier. There have been a lot of complaints about this crossing and nearby crossings because it's a busy section of track. There may be only two Amtrak trains that pass this crossing but on a busy day there can be dozens of freight trains that pass it. But the state was getting around to it.
No. You can loosen up your tinfoil.
Yeah. The left’s always been against personal responsibility. Never mind the fact that things have worked this way on US rails for close to two centuries.
LOL.
5.56mm
The railroad owns the crossing, not the state.
And just where did you hear about “complaints”?
Railroads own the track. States put up and maintain the crossing equipment.
And just where did you hear about “complaints”?
Residents, leaders have pushed for upgrades at Amtrak crash site, but no action
Commissioners expressed concerns to state about Missouri train crossing early as 2019
AP and their hearsay again? Never mind the other source saying that the state DOT got no complaints about the crossing. The only alleged danger was a steep incline approaching the tracks and nothing related to crossing protection; a reckless dumptruck driver would ignore warning lights and crossing gates just as much as stop signs and crossbucks.
The railroad is at liberty to completely close the crossing. Perhaps the state should tunnel under the rails, certainly if the road incline is a problem.
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