Amtrak train traveling 87 mph when it struck truck at Missouri crossing, NTSB says
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Amtrak train derailed in Missouri
An Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago with more than 200 passengers onboard derailed Monday afternoon after it struck a dump truck at a crossing in northern Missouri.
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An Amtrak train that struck a dump truck Monday in rural Missouri was traveling at 87 mph at the time of impact, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference Wednesday.
The train began blowing its horn one-fourth of a mile from the intersection as it was traveling 89 mph, Homendy said at the briefing. The speed limit was 90 mph.
The amount of time it takes a train to stop depends on its weight and officials were still making that calculation, but it can take up to a mile, Homendy said.
Four people were killed and 150 were injured in the crash in Mendon, about 115 miles northeast of Kansas City.
The Amtrak train was traveling eastbound from Los Angeles to Chicago and carrying approximately 275 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
Homendy said investigators were examining visibility at the intersection and the slope of the road intersecting the railroad.
“It’s very steep,” she said of the incline.
A person in the dump truck and three passengers were killed. They were identified Wednesday by the Missouri State Highway Patrol as Billy Barton II, 54, of Brookfield, Missouri; Rachelle Cook, 58, and Kim Holsapple, 56, both of De Soto, Kansas; and Binh Pham, 82, of Kansas City.
On Tuesday, Homendy noted that the “passive crossing” where the crash occurred did not have active lights or bells to warn drivers of oncoming trains, saying the NTSB has recommended those measures since 1998. About half of the country’s crossings remain passive crossings. In Missouri, there are about 3,500 passive crossings.
“We still don’t see action on that. It’s been 24 years and that recommendation is still as important today as it was in 1998. Lives could be saved,” Homendy said.
A state report issued in February showed the crossing where the deadly crash occurred was due for those upgrades — a project analysis ballparked the cost at around $400,000 — and neighbors told The Star on Monday that concerns have been raised there for years.
The safety board did not have any concerns about mechanical issues on the train or the tracks, Homendy said Tuesday.
Improvements at the crossing are the responsibility of agencies at the federal, state and county levels as well as BNSF Railway.
“Action needs to be taken,” Homendy said at the briefing Wednesday.
The NTSB does not control funding or regulation, but she said the agency “has a voice.”
“We know there needs to be some improvement.”
More than a dozen people remained hospitalized Wednesday.
This story was originally published June 29, 2022 at 6:04 PM.
