‘Lives could be saved’: Feds called for rail crossing safety decades ago, official says

In the wake of a fatal Amtrak train crash in rural Missouri that left four people dead and dozens injured, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Tuesday that the federal agency has recommended lights and bells at crossings since the 1990s.

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.

“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.

Homendy said the NTSB was beginning its investigation by examining the events leading up to the crash. Evidence gathering was to include a digital download of information from the on-board recording system, Homendy said, which would show factors such as the use of the train horn, the speed of the train before impact and how the brakes were applied.

The safety board did not have any concerns about mechanical issues on the train or the tracks, she said.

The NTSB was aiming to release certain findings abut the crash, including the train’s speed, as early as Wednesday, Homendy added.

The NTSB briefing comes as a 14-member team from the agency arrived Tuesday morning to investigate the crash that occurred when the Amtrak train struck a dump truck Monday at a crossing near Mendon, Missouri, which is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City. The crash was first reported at about 12:43 p.m. Monday, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The Amtrak train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago and carrying approximately 275 passengers and 12 crew members. Two passengers aboard the train were killed as rail cars tumbled off the tracks, landing on their side. A person in the dump truck also was killed.

A third passenger later died at University Hospital in Columbia, authorities said Tuesday. Authorities had not publicly identified the four who died.

On Tuesday, the patrol said 150 people were transported to area hospitals with various injuries.

Some of the passengers were taken to Northwestern High School in Mendon after the crash. Several there told The Star of a harrowing experience as they expressed gratitude for the response of emergency medical workers and thanks to escape with their lives.

Meanwhile, Amtrak, a federally-subsidized passenger rail provider, has said the company dispatched its own emergency response teams to assist with recovery and investigate the crash. Speaking to passengers in Mendon on Monday evening Mary Bis, senior director of emergency management for Amtrak, extended “our apologies for the situation.”