JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The grade crossing near Mendon, Mo., that was the site of the fatal 2022 collision and derailment involving Amtrak’s Southwest Chief is among 52 included in plans for upgrades, closures, or other changes released Thursday by the Missouri Department of Transportation.
The Kansas City Star reports the plan, with an estimated cost of $18.5 million, calls for closing 17 crossings along passenger rail routes in the state and adding lights and crossing gates at 27 others. Three others would be changed from public to private crossings, two would receive security gates, and three would receive passive enhancements.
An appropriations bill signed by Gov. Mike Parson includes $50 million for grade crossing improvements. State DOT spokeswoman Linda Horn told the newspaper that the $18.5 million is for the first phase of the plan. The remaining funds will be used to analyze improvements at the state’s other passive crossings — those without warning lights or crossing gates.
“The Mendon issue was a terrible tragedy to say the least. People lost their lives,” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said, according to the Star. “With that, it’s about moving forward. It’s about not letting that happen again.”
The Missouri DOT report on the Southwest Chief route recommends improvements at seven crossings, closures of 11 others, and three to receive passive enhancements. The estimated cost of those changes is $7.6 million.
Porche Prairie Avenue (County Road 113) near Mendon is among those recommended for closure. In its report on the June 27, 2022, derailment that occurred after the Chief hit a dump truck at that grade crossing, killing four people, the National Transportation Safety Board noted the crossing’s significant design flaws [see “Design of crossing contributed …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 2, 2023].
The most extensive — and expensive — changes would come on the route of the Texas Eagle. That route’s MoDOT report calls for four crossing closures, 20 upgrades, and one security gate system, at a cost of $10.855 million. The report on the route of the Missouri River Runner, in contrast, calls for just two closures, three crossings changed from public to private status, and one security gate system, at a cost of $91,000.
What are “passive enhancements”?
I wonder why Missouri is limiting its program to routes with named passenger trains. Surely, there are freight only crossing that are just as or more dangerous than the selected passenger crossings.
Government doing what it does best. Swinging into action just as soon as enough people get killed or injured. I have yet to hear of the government doing a risk assessment and putting in preventive controls before lives are lost or people are hurt.