UPDATE: At least 50 injured and multiple people killed when Amtrak train derails in Missouri
Last edited Mon Jun 27, 2022, 05:28 PM - Edit history (2)
Source: CNN
(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 dump 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. Amtrak had said earlier that there were approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the train. Three people are being taken to University Hospital in Columbia, according to a hospital spokesperson. The conditions of the patients is unknown.
Robert Nightingale, a passenger with a sleeper car, said he was taking a nap when he heard something. "It all happened like slow motion. It started to rock and, and rock, and then flicker, and then it just all of a sudden -- all this dust was through my window," Nightingale, who is from Taos, New Mexico, told CNN. He said the train fell over on the side that his compartment was on.
Nightingale, who was not injured, said he couldn't get through the window, which was blocked by dirt, so he grabbed his backpack and climbed into the hallway. Then he moved into a neighboring room where he found a way to climb out and onto the side of the train.
He said some people helped others reach the ground where he and others walked to the front of the train. He said the truck looked like it had big boulders in it. "It hit something major to cause ... every car to go off," he said. Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/27/us/missouri-amtrak-train-derailment/index.html
Full headline: At least 50 injured and multiple people killed when Amtrak train derails in Missouri after hitting dump truck
Original article and original headline -
(CNN) Several people were hurt when an Amtrak train derailed in Missouri, according to a statement by the passenger rail company.
The company said the train struck a dump truck at a public crossing near the city of Mendon at about 1:42 p.m. CT.
"There are approximately 243 passengers onboard with early reports of injuries," company officials said. "Local authorities are currently assisting customers and we have deployed Amtrak resources to assist."
Chillicothe Fire Department Chief Eric Reeter confirmed the derailment and said his department is on standby should authorities need them to assist. No other details were available. Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago.
The collision was the second in two days in which an Amtrak train hit a passenger vehicle. On Sunday, 85 passengers were on board a train in rural California that hit a vehicle. Three people were killed and two people suffered major injuries, according to officials. All of the victims were in the vehicle, the officials added.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Update article and update headline -
(CNN) Several people were hurt when an Amtrak train derailed in Missouri, according to the passenger rail company. The company said the train struck a dump truck at a public crossing near the city of Mendon at about 1:42 p.m. CT. "There are approximately 243 passengers onboard with early reports of injuries," company officials said in a statement.
"Local authorities are currently assisting customers and we have deployed Amtrak resources to assist." Three people are being taken to University Hospital in Columbia, according to a hospital spokesperson. The conditions of the patients is unknown. Robert Nightingale, a passenger with a sleeper car, said he was taking a nap when he heard something.
"It all happened like slow motion. It started to rock and, and rock, and then flicker, and then it just all of a sudden -- all this dust was through my window," Nightingale, who is from Taos, New Mexico, told CNN. He said the train fell over on the side that his compartment was on. Nightingale, who was not injured, said he couldn't get through the window, which was blocked by dirt, so he grabbed his backpack and climbed into the hallway.
Then he moved into a neighboring room where he found a way to climb out and onto the side of the train.
He said some people helped others reach the ground where he and others walked to the front of the train. He said the truck looked like it had big boulders in it. "It hit something major to cause ... every car to go off," he said. Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago.
= new reply since forum marked as read
and the crossing had no gate or lights.
I used to commute downtown every day for school using one of the commuter trains and then a bus. At the time, I would get off at what was "the end of the line" downtown for that route - Suburban Station here in Philly (which was part of the old Penn Central, later Conrail, and now SEPTA lines).
There was a platform walkway (and then a wall) where the tracks ended, leading to the steps up to the main station area, and that walkway was perpendicular to and intersected with the regular track platforms that ran alongside where the train car entrance/exit doors opened to.
I remember one morning, we ended up arriving on a different track from our regular one because apparently some train using our usual track/gate (either going to fast and/or had brakes fail and/or experienced a human error move) had smacked right into the bumpers and platform where the track ended. That accident took out the bumper and huge chunks of the concrete walkway. It took them awhile to get that repaired.
Years later, they broke through that "end of line" wall and connected those Penn Central tracks to the old Reading Railroad line tracks, so those tracks would connect Suburban Station with both 30th St. Station (which was also an Amtrak hub) and what would be the replacement station for the Reading Terminal - "Market East Station" (now renamed "Jefferson Station" ).
I remember when I first started working downtown and using the same train line and getting the weirdest feeling when we "kept going through" Suburban Station (that used to be the end) and onto Market East where I got off and got on the El (Market-Frankford Elevated line that was underground for that portion) to go further into town closer to where I worked. 
And if anyone has access to those tracks, they don't even have to mess with a switching mechanism. A few strategically placed rocks at those switches would trigger the failure for the switch to engage. I remember there were signals all along the route where I think 2 (or maybe 3) horizontal lights on it meant "stop" and 2 (or 3) vertical lights meant "proceed" (and a diagonal of 2 or 3 was a "proceed with caution" or something like that). So if a track hadn't switched correctly (or was in a configuration for a different train to use an intersecting track), then other trains got the "stop" signal and would wait until the right-of-way one had passed and the switch for them was engaged so they could continue on their routes. But if that signal got screwed or the sabotage was enough to trigger the "proceed" but was not enough to actually allow the full track switch to be engaged, then I can see how a train could derail. 
flashing lights, etc.) - Federal Government, State DOT's, the freight company or Amtrak?
The KCS article made it sound like it's the State DOT's failure.
Either way, I'm sure it's going to be a big setback for Amtrak.
Very sad.
