One of Missouri's busiest railroad lines is shut down after an Amtrak train struck a dump truck and derailed Monday afternoon, killing four people.
The incident and subsequent investigation has potential to delay supply chains.
"This is an extremely busy line through Missouri," said Linda Wilson Horn, communications director for the Missouri Department of Transportation. "I don't have numbers on this line specifically, but I've been told it's one of our busiest routes through the state so you'd expect that the line being closed is going to affect supply chains, but I don't have the details on that."
Horn said it was unclear how long the track will be unusable as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Tuesday sent a 14-person "go team" to investigate the incident and analyze the scene. Amtrak on Tuesday began working to remove derailed cars.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said trains won't be able to use the tracks for "a matter of days" as they investigate.
About 275 passengers and 12 crew members were aboard the Amtrak train moving from Los Angeles to Chicago when it crashed Monday afternoon into a dump truck near Mendon, Missouri, in Chariton County. The dump truck was obstructing a passive highway-rail crossing, which didn't have any active warning devices like lights, bells or arm gates.
Impact with the dump truck killed the driver, and two Amtrak passengers died when the Amtrak cars went off the tracks. Another passenger died at University Hospital in Columbia. Approximately 150 people were transported from the scene to 10 area hospitals for treatment of minor to serious injuries, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
In a news conference early Tuesday evening, Homendy said investigators were downloading the train's event recorder to produce information on the train speed, brake application and when the conductor blew horns. She said they will also download footage from two forward-facing cameras on the train.
NTSB is also requesting inspection information from Amtrak, but Homendy said she isn't concerned that any mechanical or technical failures caused the accident.
The incident and investigation may impact the ability of trains to move consumer goods through Missouri, a critical supply chain state in the center of the country.
BNSF Railway, the company that owns the Southern Transcon railroad where the crash occurred, moves roughly a third of the intermodal volume in North America, according to its website.
BNSF did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday.
According to a company description of the Southern Transcon from 2018, it's the company's primary route for its intermodal franchise.
BNSF uses the line to ship trailers and containers with everyday items, such as clothes, appliances and electronics, and, in some cases, high priority items. There are about 300 trains on the Southern Transcon at any given time and each train carries as much as 280 trucks, according to the description.
Joni Casey, president of the Intermodal Association of North America, said the Southern Transcon route is one of the key routes for the movement of goods from southern California to Chicago with more than 17 million loads transported by rail each year.
MoDOT has been studying supply chain issues throughout the state as a leader on Gov. Mike Parson's Supply Chain Task Force, which he called into action in November 2021. The task force issued its draft recommendations earlier this month and suggested more investments in rail and multimodal shipping.
There are more than 6,500 highway-rail crossings in Missouri, with at least one in 90 of the state's 114 counties.
Of the 4,381 public crossings in the state, 3,311 are at grade and about half have active lights or gates and half do not, according to the Missouri Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan MoDOT submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration in January.
Horn said the state receives $6 million from the Federal Railroad Administration and generates approximately $1.5 million in taxes annually to work on railroad crossing improvements with private companies.
The County Road 113 crossing of the BNSF railroad in Chariton County has been identified for improvement funding, Horn said, which could include roadway improvements and the installation of lights and gates.
"Specific project development is done in coordination with BNSF and the county based on very limited funding," she said. "The next step for this location is to work with these parties to develop an agreed upon solution and schedule. Then, the railroad company will hire a contractor to complete the work and MoDOT will administer the federal reimbursement."
The derailment in Mendon has not affected the daily Amtrak Missouri River Runner train that travels through Jefferson City from the state's major metro areas.