Multiple fatalities reported in Missouri train derailment

[TLO]

CNN
—
There are multiple fatalities and at least 50 people who were injured after an Amtrak train derailed Monday in Missouri, Eric McKenzie, the superintendent with Chariton County Ambulance Service, told CNN.

Amtrak said in a statement the train collided with a truck at a public crossing near the city of Mendon at about 1:42 p.m. CT.

Eight cars and two locomotives left the track “after striking a truck that was obstructing a public crossing near Mendon, Missouri,” company officials said in an updated statement.

Contra Costa Sheriff deputies investigate the scene after an Amtrak train collided with a vehicle in Brentwood, Calif., on Sunday, June 26, 2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group via AP)
Amtrak train collides with vehicle at California intersection without crossing arms, killing three
Amtrak had said earlier that there were approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the train.

Cpl. Justin Dunn, a spokesperson for Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop B, said authorities are still trying to ascertain the number of fatalities. The train hit a dump truck, he added.

A school has been turned into a triage center for victims with minor injuries, he said.

[Enid Borden]

Truck driver legally present in US and able to read English?

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Enid Borden

Truck driver legally present in US and able to read English?

Yes.

He was also an experienced driver.

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by srvy

That track is a tangent line for miles before any curve. Tracks lay at a 45* angle to the N S E W cardinal direction section line roads that cross the rail line. This makes it even more challenging to cross and cran your neck around to get visual each way while on a steep grade up and over the RR elevated bed. The farmer with land at that crossing had pleaded with the County and RR to change the grade approach to cross those tracks. He said he barely made it across before never seeing or hearing a train coming. That Amtrak train was traveling at 90 mph to NE looking to the SW on google there are about 6 more significant crossings before the collision so that whistle could have been as much as a mile away or more. Without witnesses, it's going to come down to accident surveys and recreation of the event. High-definition 3d scanning will get an accurate XYZ picture of that intersection and siteline obstructions.

Do these trains not have video recorders?

With the way railroad lawsuits quickly become massive fights involving huge settlements, I guess I assumed most trains would be recording collision evidence and track conditions on the fly.

[srvy]

I don't know but Id expect so and a black box like the airlines so the speed can be recorded. Also, wonder if there are voice recordings.

[Spott]

Originally Posted by srvy

I don't know but Id expect so and a black box like the airlines so the speed can be recorded. Also, wonder if there are voice recordings.

The radio transmissions between the train operators and the dispatchers are definitely recorded.

[tatorhog]

Second train accident in the past couple of years that I know people involved. First one was on southside of KC. Then this one. My wife was on that same route the following day to Chicago, but her reroute took her through St Louis.

Both accidents apparently involved limited visibility at the crossing. There are lots of crossings like this throughout the countryside with limited view due to overgrowth of brush.

[Marada]

Just an FYI. I live in the area, and I am familiar with those tracks. They are very busy with freight traffic. The story making the rounds here is that the truck was stopped waiting on a west bound freight train to clear the crossing. And freights are loud so I would imagine a whistle could not be heard from the Amtrak. Anyway, after the freight went by, the truck started across and got clobbered. The freight train would have blocked the view of the east bound Amtrack. That makes sense to me.

[Rainbarrel]

Non Amtrak trains are extremely long these days

[neech]

Originally Posted by Marada

Just an FYI. I live in the area, and I am familiar with those tracks. They are very busy with freight traffic. The story making the rounds here is that the truck was stopped waiting on a west bound freight train to clear the crossing. And freights are loud so I would imagine a whistle could not be heard from the Amtrak. Anyway, after the freight went by, the truck started across and got clobbered. The freight train would have blocked the view of the east bound Amtrack. That makes sense to me.

Tell Google Maps to update the pics in the town of Callao, Missouri, those are from 2009 and have a grainy look to them.

Funny though when you get to Chestnut and 8th street there is a police car (boss hog) waiting to pull over people.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7666...!7i3328!8i1664

[Hammock Parties]

Mendon, Missouri. Population 171. There’s really nothing here. The tiny town is located off Route 11, just south of Yellow Creek. You’re three hours west of Saint Louis, two hours east of Kansas City.

It’s quiet. No attractions. No major landmarks. Nobody famous ever lived here unless you count Vern Kennedy, right-hander for the White Sox, circa 1934.
If you’re looking for entertainment in Mendon, your main option is Busch Light. But you’ll have to drive all the way to Brunswick to find a liquor store.
“We are just country folk,” said Mendon native Carol Ann Wamsley, “and that's what makes us a special place.”

At its heart, Mendon is a railroad town. The first iron tracks were laid in 1887. Within a decade, a town sprang up. You had a few dozen storefronts, a school, a newspaper, and a couple churches with steeply conflicting views on eternal damnation. Most of that is gone now.

Today, the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad line still passes the northwest side of the community, only now it’s the Southern Transcon Railroad.

The Amtrak Southwest Chief runs through town regularly. On summer afternoons you can see the Amtrak locomotive in the distance, racing across the prairie like a polished chromium bullet. But the train never stops here. It just keeps moving.

Until last week.

It was a Monday that will live in infamy. The Southwest Chief made an unexpected stop near Mendon, of all places.

The Chief was traveling 87 mph, bound for Chicago. There were more people aboard than there are living within Mendon’s city limits.

Up ahead a dump truck was stalled on the tracks. The truck was obstructing the crossing of County Road 113. This was not a small truck. This was a vehicle about the size of a Sonic Drive-In.

The train never slowed.

The sound of the collision could be heard from as far away as Westville. It was the noise of two General Electric diesel locomotives and seven Superliner cars plowing into a mass of Dearborn steel. The train was derailed.

Ron Goulet was riding coach.

“...I was airborne. Everything was tumbling. People on top of people. The train rolled on its right side—the entire train, except for the front locomotive.”
Carry-on bags went everywhere. Elbows collided with craniums. Shoes crashed into jaws. Children clashed against the ceiling.

“When I climbed up and out of the train…” said Ron, “I was stunned that the entire thing was lying on its side. Not in a jumbled mass, but all laid over on the side.”

The story made national headlines, of course. Reporters from national newspapers visited. They photographed, videoed and wrote. Cable news anchors wore frowny faces and mentioned the wreck, just before cutting to commercials urging elderly viewers to reverse mortgage their livers.
But somehow, the bigger story about what happened in Mendon was lost.

Somehow, you didn’t hear about Mendon’s magnificent people.

Sure, you heard about the wreck itself; the 150 injured, and the four fatalities. But you didn’t hear about how the residents of Mendon—nearly every single resident—rushed to the scene of the accident.

Throngs of ordinary townspeople arrived before first responders even knew about the crash. There were volunteers crawling out of the wallpaper.

“It was a wonderful problem to have,” said school district superintendent, Eric Hoyt, “but we probably had too many volunteers show up.”

People came from all over Chariton County, riding beat-up Silverados, ATVs, or arriving on foot. They came from Sumner, Marceline, Cunningham, Brookfield and Indian Grove.

Two Boy Scout troops dutifully helped injured victims from the wreckage. Local high-schoolers were fashioning bandages out of bandannas. Old women recited the Lord’s Prayer alongside strangers in blood-stained clothes.

There were farmers, off-duty nurses, truck drivers, soccer moms, Little League coaches and grade-schoolers. They were doling out food, first aid, bottled water and, most importantly, phone chargers.

Victims were taken to local homes, fed, bathed and bandaged. Weeping passengers were embraced by rural preachers. Passengers using wheelchairs were lifted from the rubble by young men in ropers and camouflage caps.

Local schoolbus drivers transported the wounded to hospitals. Northwestern High School staff members triaged victims in the gymnasium and fed people in the cafeteria.

One resident said that Mendon didn’t feel like a 171-person town anymore.

“It was like 671 people came together.”

And the most unusual thing about all this is: None of this is unusual. At least not within the national tapestry that is The Great American Small Town.

Although we rarely hear about such acts of compassion and lovingkindness within our society, believe me, they happen. Every day. Every hour.

Ordinary Americans will astound you with their goodwill. Sadly, ordinary American journalists aren’t interested in being astounded by such things.

Either way. Now you know the rest of the story.

[WilliamTheIrish]

^
Brought to you by the Mendon, MO Chamber Of Commerce.

[Hydrae]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Ordinary Americans will astound you with their goodwill. Sadly, ordinary American journalists aren’t interested in being astounded by such things.

The best line in the story. I have always been amazed at how people will step up when needed. Little details like political affiliation, religious beliefs, etc. don't matter at times like this. These are the interactions between people that should be celebrated, how much we have in common as opposed to all of the strife that we are constantly bombarded with.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

^
Brought to you by the Mendon, MO Chamber Of Commerce.

Happy 4th of July!!

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

^
Brought to you by the Mendon, MO Chamber Of Commerce.

are you a dick in real life?

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

are you a dick in real life?

sorry about your feelz there, townie.