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Amtrak statement.

On June 27 at 12:42 p.m. CT, Southwest Chief Train 4, traveling eastbound on BNSF track from Los Angeles to Chicago, derailed 8 cars and 2 locomotives after striking a truck that was obstructing a public crossing near Mendon, Missouri. There were approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members onboard with early reports of injuries. Local authorities are currently assisting customers. Our Incident Response Team has been activated, and we are deploying emergency personnel to the scene to help support our passengers, our employees and their families with their needs. Individuals with questions about their friends and family who were traveling aboard this train should call 800-523-9101. Additional details will be provided as available.  

Last edited by jay jay

I just watched a live feed from a helicopter.  The Amtrak engines are on the track and appear to be undamaged.  The crossing is a dirt road.  It is protected by "Stop" signs.  There is double track at the derailment site.  This is probably a siding.  The dump truck is totaled.  It appears to me that the truck drove into the side of the train causing all the cars except for the engines to flip on their sides.  Of course, this is pure speculation at this point.  NH Joe

@mark s posted:

Might tight-lock couplers have caused all cars to go over simultaneously?  Seems like nothing works in this country anymore.......dump truck drove into the side of the train?

I have read that more than 25% of all grade-crossing accidents involve a vehicle driving into the side of a passing train.  I cannot vouch for the figure but even one is mind-boggling.

It raises real questions about how someone can drive into the side of a train, unless maybe like in a fast and furious movie they decide to race the train to the crossing. It could be the dump truck driver thought they could get across the track fact and by the time it got to the crossing the train was there. Could be with sun glare they didn't even see the train, or maybe driver didn't even look.

FWIW I don't think this is a sign of the coming apocalypse, things like this tend to happen in clusters FWIW and it gets picked up because accidents are great click bait, pro rail people complain about stupid drivers (likely true), anti train people love this as proof of "the menace of trains" (hate to tell them, trucks by far as involved in a lot more accidents, including fatal ones). There is definitely a lot going on right now, and it appears like not a lot good, but these kind of things happen, and have happened, known as life

I just watched another helicopter video feed that was a better than the last.  It appears that the front of the first engine is damaged.  This would indicate that the train hit the truck.  The damage, however, doesn't appear as bad as I would expect when a truck was totally destroyed.  The front engine appears to be still on the track.  It is upright.  The second engine is derailed but upright.  The baggage car is the first car that is partly turned on its side.  All the other cars are on their sides.  A news report said that 3 people were killed - 1 in the truck and 2 on the train.  Over 50 people were injured.  

A local farmer reported that it is very hard to see trains coming from this crossing.  The crossing is protected by a "Stop" sign.  There is a steep grade leading up to the crossing.  

One amazing thing is that the railroad has already put what appears to be sectional track next to the train.  I wonder if the track will be operational by tomorrow on a limited basis.  I don't know how they can remove the Amtrak train from the area by then.  Perhaps they will build around the Amtrak train and then remove it during the next 30 days.  NH Joe

One news report I heard said 2 troops of Boy Scouts were on the train, returning from their hiking adventure at Philmont Scout Ranch. They immediately organized and rendered first aid to the injured, including the truck driver who eventually passed away. That’s got to be traumatic! Talk about your real life adventures and having to put your skills to work! Kudos to them!

Chris

LVHR

The news just keeps getting worse.  The death toll has been raised to 4 - the truck driver and 3 on the train.  I just saw a video of a freight train passing the derailed Amtrak train on the second track.  I suppose that means that the route is now open on a limited basis.

In other news, two young people were killed by an Amtrak train at 12:30 am on June 27 in Detroit.  Police reported that people were street racing and tried to beat the train.  The crossing gates and warnings were working.  This has been a bad couple of days for Amtrak and the public.  NH Joe

@romiller49 posted:

How much does it cost to put crossing gates at all crossings. Rural area or not. What a shame.

Entire system would probably be upwards of 100k for a simple crossing. Some of these rural area crossings may not have utility power. Not sure you may even need 3 phase for gates/warning system. However, I agree any crossing with passenger trains should be gated. Theres a reason they made an effort to eliminate crossings on the NEC.

If most crossing accidents are from a vehicle running into the side of a train, are gates going to do much?

Recently there was a local woman that was killed when a locomotive struck her car in the crossing, and the gates were already down. Unless they are going to start installing vehicle barriers like on military installations, I don’t really see the point.

What is the advantage of Amtrak using the Superliner cars on certain routes?  It would seem that them being taller and top heavy makes them more susceptible to tipping over which I am guessing contributed to the 3 casualties on this train.  Would Amfleet cars be safer?  243 passengers with 7 cars is around 35 passengers per car which is less than half of the capacity of an Amfleet car.

@romiller49 posted:

How much does it cost to put crossing gates at all crossings. Rural area or not. What a shame.

I saw a news report that it would cost $400,000 to install crossing gates at this location.  That seems to be overly high but everything costs too much these days.  

Another report said that there were two dump trucks, one following the other.  The second truck was not involved in the accident.  If true, testimony from the second driver and the train dash camera video will give a good idea of what happened.  The train also has "black boxes" that record everything that the engines are doing.  NH Joe

@rplst8 posted:

If most crossing accidents are from a vehicle running into the side of a train, are gates going to do much?

Recently there was a local woman that was killed when a locomotive struck her car in the crossing, and the gates were already down. Unless they are going to start installing vehicle barriers like on military installations, I don’t really see the point.

The problem is that too many people go around the gates.  You can find many videos of this on the internet.  I was on an Amtrak train that killed a woman when she walked around the down gates after a freight train just passed.  This crossing had pedestrian gates in addition to car gates.  She did not notice my train coming from the opposite direction on a parallel track.  NH Joe

The problem is that too many people go around the gates.  You can find many videos of this on the internet.  I was on an Amtrak train that killed a woman when she walked around the down gates after a freight train just passed.  This crossing had pedestrian gates in addition to car gates.  She did not notice my train coming from the opposite direction on a parallel track.  NH Joe

I was on a New Jersey Transit train from Long Branch to Newark that had a car go around the gates just before the Hazlet Station stop and hit the cab car about mid point.  The train did not derail and there were no injuries onboard, but the driver of the car did not survive.  Did the driver really need to beat the train?

@breezinup posted:

I saw a report about the accident, and one passenger said he was looking out his window at the dump truck speeding toward the crossing, and said he thought "That driver better start slowing down." It would seem likely that he will be called to testify at one of the accident hearing.

Interesting. The newscasts here have described it as an obscured crossing that residents have been complaining about vegetation growth there for some time yet this guy could see the truck traveling to the crossing. Sad that it occurred plus that people were both injured and killed.

@Chas posted:

What is the advantage of Amtrak using the Superliner cars on certain routes?  It would seem that them being taller and top heavy makes them more susceptible to tipping over which I am guessing contributed to the 3 casualties on this train.  Would Amfleet cars be safer?  243 passengers with 7 cars is around 35 passengers per car which is less than half of the capacity of an Amfleet car.

About half of the Superliners on that train are sleepers.  Much less capacity than Amfleet cars.  The dining car is normally in the middle.  Each of the coaches making up the other half, on the other hand, hold more than a typical Amfleet coach because of the two levels.

Overall the train holds less, with more space to spread out.

Mike

@BobbyD posted:

Interesting. The newscasts here have described it as an obscured crossing that residents have been complaining about vegetation growth there for some time yet this guy could see the truck traveling to the crossing. Sad that it occurred plus that people were both injured and killed.

Don't know, but that's what one of the passengers said. However, vegetation growth blocking a view for motorists is one thing. Sitting up high in a Superliner with a "bird's eye view" gives a whole different perspective.

From what I've seen, the crossing is surrounded by very flat farm fields. The track is elevated maybe about six feet, and the road has a pretty steep climb on each side to reach the crossing. Unclear if the vegetation impairing sightlines referred to (like trees) are actually on the railroad's property, or on the property of the adjoining farms.

@wjstix posted:

From what I've seen, the crossing is surrounded by very flat farm fields. The track is elevated maybe about six feet, and the road has a pretty steep climb on each side to reach the crossing. Unclear if the vegetation impairing sightlines referred to (like trees) are actually on the railroad's property, or on the property of the adjoining farms.

However, latest reported information: 1)  a passenger on the train witnessed the subject dump truck "racing" towards the crossing, and thought to himself, "Gee,,,,,,,,,I sure hope that truck slows down soon!". Obviously the truck did NOT "slow down", nor stop at the STOP sign on the cross buck. 2) The "in-cab" video camera plainly shows that the dump truck did NOT stop!

"I saw a news report that it would cost $400,000 to install crossing gates at this location."

I'm in the wrong business.

Yes, yes, I know, engineering costs, track circuit design, property acquisition, site preparation, union labor costs (prevailing wage rule), the parts themselves, power, signal lines, battery and relay cabinets, gates, lamps, testing, third-party certification and acceptance fees, and warranty/maintenance agreements...

I'm STILL in the wrong business.

As I have travelled around on trains through rural areas, I have seen some pretty humble crossing warnings. I'll wager that they didn't all cost $400,000 each, even at today's prices.

I'll also wager that the families of the 4 deceased would not think that $100,000 is too high a price to pay to get their loved ones back.

Last edited by Arthur P. Bloom
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