(The following story by Terry Hillig appeared on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website on December 16.)
BRIGHTON, Mo. — A quick phone call might have averted an Amtrak derailment that injured 10 people last week when a train hit a truck stuck on a railroad crossing near here.
Chip Pew, coordinator of the Illinois Operation Lifesaver program, said most people aren’t aware that toll-free 800 numbers are posted near most rail crossings nationwide. The numbers should be called whenever a crossing signal malfunctions or a stalled vehicle blocks the tracks.
“I don’t think the average person knows the number is there or what they should do,” he said.
Placards that contain a crossing’s U.S. Department of Transportation identification number (each has six numerals and a letter) and an 800 number are typically found on signal control boxes, crossbuck signs or signal masts.
Pew said a call to the number posted at the crossing near Brighton would have gone to a Union Pacific operator in Omaha, Neb., who would have alerted the dispatcher who controlled traffic on that part of the company’s network.
With enough notice, he said, the dispatcher might have been able to alert the train crew by radio before the locomotive reached the stalled truck.
Noting how much worse it could have been, Pew said, “We were lucky this time.”
Nine passengers and the train’s engineer suffered minor injuries in the accident Dec. 8. All were treated and released from hospitals.
The southbound Chicago-to-St. Louis train hit an empty low-boy trailer of a rig driven by Dustin D. Kroeschel, 24, of Medora. The trailer became stuck on the tracks when Kroeschel attempted a left turn onto the crossing from Logan Street, which runs alongside the track.
The crash derailed the train, a locomotive and four cars that remained coupled and upright.
Macoupin County Sheriff Don Albrecht said Kroeschel waved his arms and tried to stop the train, which arrived two to four minutes after the truck got stuck.
Pew said the first priority is to get everyone out of the vehicle and away from the tracks, and then to call the 800 number.
Pew said that trying to flag down a train usually doesn’t work. “Once (the crew) sees you, it’s going to be too late to stop,” he said. “At 50 mph, a train travels the length of a football field in a second.”
Albrecht said the driver also could have called 911, as emergency dispatchers know how to contact railroads quickly.
Operation Lifesaver is sponsored jointly by federal, state and local governments, civic and business organizations, railroads and safety advocates.