Tractor-trailer crosses path of Amtrak train

ST. LOUIS -- A tractor-trailer crossed into the path of an Amtrak train just starting its daily St. Louis-to-Kansas City run Wednesday, the collision critically injuring the truck's driver but sparing the handful of people aboard the passenger train. The truck driver, whose name was not released, sustained burns to about 25 percent of his body and internal injuries.

He was in critical condition at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in suburban Creve Coeur, St. Louis police Capt. Greg Wurm said.

Six Amtrak passengers complained of minor injuries, mostly to the back and neck, and were taken to Barnes-Jewish Hospital for evaluation, Fire Department spokeswoman Kim Bacon said. None were likely to be hospitalized overnight.

"We're just very fortunate we don't have anything worse," Wurm said.

The accident happened just before 8 a.m. a couple of blocks from the St. Louis Science Center near an industrial park on the city's west side.

The train, carrying 23 passengers and crew, had left moments earlier from downtown St. Louis.

More than anything, the passengers were shaken up, Bacon said. "They're scared, let's put it that way."

The westbound train was in an area with a train speed limit of 50 mph. Wurm estimated the train was going below the speed limit.

Wurm said crossing lights and warning bells appeared to be functioning properly, and the engineer sounded his horn. The site does not have a crossing arm to block vehicles, and some witnesses said the bright morning sun may have prevented the truck driver from seeing the warning lights.

"For whatever reason, he just didn't see the train coming and tried to cross it at the wrong time," Wurm said.

The accident separated the cab from the trailer, igniting a fire, then pushed the cab along a two-block stretch of track, with big pieces of the cab falling along the sides of the track. The truck driver was ejected.

People working nearby rushed out with fire extinguishers to put out the flames.

The trailer was empty, Bacon said, perhaps easing the collision's impact.

Workers had to remove the chassis of the truck's cab, which was lodged beneath the front of the locomotive. The rest of the fiberglass cab was smoldering in burnt heaps.

Witnesses who live or work nearby reported hearing a train's horn, followed quickly by a loud bang.

Then, "the truck was in multiple pieces down the track," witness Ed Carroll said.

Mike Hartlage, 32, lives nearby and said accidents were common in recent years at the crossing, which sits in a business area that Wurm said gets plenty of tractor-trailer traffic.

Records from the Federal Railroad Administration show the crossing has been the site of 21 train accidents since 1978, including seven involving Amtrak trains. Most were minor, though one person has been killed and nine others injured in accidents prior to Wednesday. In all the cases, a vehicle either stopped on the tracks or tried to cross in front of a train.

The only fatal accident at the crossing over the last quarter of a century was on Dec. 9, 1987, when an Amtrak train struck a truck, killing the truck driver.

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On the Net:

Federal Railroad Administration: http://www.fra.dot.gov/