Revisiting Mendon: What’s been done since June 2022 train derailment

REFLECTING ON DERAILMENT

Mike Spencer still thinks about the incident nearly one year later.

“It was so surreal to see that and walk up on it and know that this was going to make an imprint on our community for many years to come,” said Spencer, a farmer who lives in Chariton County.

He remembers the phone call he received from a friend telling him a train had derailed. At the time, Spencer was in Columbia, Missouri.

The I-Team asked Spencer what's been done since the June 2022 accident.

“Well, not a lot. Not a lot,” Spencer said.

Around 58 trains per day pass through the crossing at Porche Prairie Avenue. Most are freight, but two are passenger trains, according to U.S. Department of Transportation records.

The max speed allowed is 90 mph, and the crossing is less than a football field away from Spencer’s soybean crop.

PREVIOUS CONCERNS RAISED

Spencer first raised concerns about the crossing in December 2019 before the

POSSIBLE PLANS FOR CROSSING

This April, the county commission held a meeting to discuss safety improvements at railroad crossings. Pictures from the meeting show Porche Prairie Avenue as a proposed closed crossing.

“I would hate to see it closed. I don’t think it’s a good idea to close this crossing," Spencer said. "I don’t think that’s the answer to it."

Spare train tracks stacked on top of each other now block the crossing, but reminders of the derailment remain, such as a door from the Amtrak train.

Spencer said vehicles like his truck haven’t been able to get through since before the derailment, which has created another set of issues.

“Our other field is about 200 feet away and we can’t get there now, so to go around to get to the other side, it’s around 6 1/2 miles one way,” Spencer said.

He also worries in the case there was a medical emergency, first responders would be forced to drive around.

Spencer hopes the crossing will eventually reopen. After all, it had been on a