There is a need for safer railroad crossings. On Tuesday, February 7, 2023, Pleasant Hill, Missouri was the sight of a deadly railroad crossing accident. A collision between a delivery truck and an Amtrak train resulted in the truck driver’s death. The accident happened on uncontrolled tracks, which means that only simple stop signs are posted on either side of the crossing.
Monday, June 27, a deadly Missouri train derailment occurred near the city of Mendon (which is approximately 100 miles northeast of Kansas City) after hitting a dump truck. The Amtrak train carrying approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members struck the dump truck at an uncontrolled intersection.
At least 50 people were injured and three were killed (two on the train and one in the dump truck). Eight cars and two locomotives derailed.
More than 2,200 rail grade crossing collisions occurred across our country’s approximately 140,000 miles of railroad track in 2018.
And, in 2018 alone:
According to Operation Lifesaver, a driver or passenger is about 20 times more likely to die in a collision with a train than in a collision with another vehicle.
Most of us have probably heard the news about the devastating train crash in South Carolina in which two were killed and more than 100 were injured. As the NTSB investigates the crash, it has found that the signaling system was not operating at the time because CSX railroad (who operates the tracks) was preparing it for Positive Train Control.
