Southwest Chief on the Ground in MO

ABC is reporting that Amtrak train 4, the eastbound Southwest Chief, is on the ground in Missouri just outside of Kansas City. It is unknown if there were any fatalities. Train was doing track speed (90) just before the collision.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/amtrak-train- ... d=85384122

MCG - Rough time for Amtrak - TWO - significant grade crossing accidents in as many days...
In fairness would we be hearing about the California fatal accident yesterday had a freight train been involved?

Mendon, MO is in Chariton County SW of Marceline (Linn County) and is closer to LaPlata than KC is - being
the closest large city on the former Santa Fe route (BNSF) that the SW Chief #3 W and #4 E operates on...

Another report was that the collision occurred at 1:42 PM CDT as the train was enroute to LaPlata - which
was to be the next eastward station stop - at minimum there are injuries mentioned...

Let's hope for the best outcome here for everyone...MACTRAXX

Article from Kansas City NBC affiliate KSHB with live updates

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/amtraks-southwest-chief-train-4-derails-in-north-central-missouri?_amp=true

ADMIN NOTE

PLEASE DO NOT SPECULATE. LET NTSB DO THEIR JOB.

Admins and mods will be looking for speculators.

There are injuries. Helicopters from various life flight agencies are moving patients to different hospital centers, including the university of Missouri at Columbia.

Twitter link from someone who was on the train.
https://twitter.com/cloudmarooned/statu ... 1921361920

John_Perkowski wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:41 pm Article from Kansas City NBC affiliate KSHB with live updates

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/amtraks-southwest-chief-train-4-derails-in-north-central-missouri?_amp=true

KSHB seems to have a reporter on the ground. Reports from them say that the SW Chief hit a dump truck:

Amtrak’s Southwest Chief train No. 4 detailed early Monday afternoon in north-central Missouri in an injury crash with a dump truck.

The train, which offers service between Los Angeles and Chicago, stopped late Monday morning to pick up passengers around 11 a.m. at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, en route to Chicago.

KSHB 41 News spoke with Katelyn Ames, a volunteer firefighter with the Mendon Fire Department.

Ames reported multiple people suffered head injuries.

I looked at a map of the area earlier... and lets just say it'll be rather quick for NTSB to figure out what happened on their 30-day update. FRA is already sending folk there. 3(27) is canceled today, per Amtrak Alerts.

Yeah, ATSF and BNSF haven’t double tracked this part of the transcon.

This is the main race track!!

Location data can found on this link
https://asm.transitdocs.com/train/2022/06/25/A/4

CNN reporting multiple dead, at least 50 injured:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/27/us/misso ... index.html

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.

KSHB (article link above) is constantly updating. 3 dead per state highway patrol, about 50 injured per CNN. These numbers will change. Amtrak is asking families who had relatives on board to call 1-800-523-9101.

I have seen trains hitting dump trucks on news reports before, but I don't quite remember any of them ending up on their sides like this one did, what could have caused this train to be impacted so hard by a situation that other trains have gotten out of with just a dent?

Factors include speed of train, anything break on the train, are we talking a 6 wheeler verse 10 wheeler, truck empty or full, where the truck was hit, condition of tracks, etc, etc. Lastly there's a reason when you go to big events like say the Boston Marathon we park large dump trucks to block the road, the potential bad guy isn't going to push it out of the way.

My friend's son, has crews headed to the site. Says they will be picking up cars, to look for bodies under them tonight, and probably into tomorrow morning. Looks bad.

Wonder if some article off the dump truck flopped around, fell on track and wheel(s) of car(s) ran over lifting car wheel(s) off rail(s) causing the derailment?

From AP report a while back, picked up on WNYT-13 website,

• rural gravel road with no crossing arms

• The first emergency responders arrived within 20 minutes of receiving a 911 call

• Close to 20 local and state law enforcement agencies, ambulance services, fire dept and medical helicopter services responded

• Six medical helicopters parked nearby waiting to transport passengers

• 16 Boy Scouts and 8 adults returning from Philmont to Appleton WI on board. Boy Scouts administered first aid including to the driver of the dump truck