KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A year after an Amtrak crash near Mendon, Missouri, that killed three people, safety improvements at railroad crossings similar to the site of the crash are underway, but progress has been slow, the KSHB 41 I-Team discovered.
In the days after last June's crash, the KSHB 41 I-Team uncovered 5 more similar crossings that the Missouri Department of Transportation also flagged for needing improvements.
LINK | Complete coverage of the Mendon crash
There is some movement forward on a few projects but any tangible changes are still wrapped up in red tape.
At the time of the Mendon derailment in June 2022, that railroad crossing needed lights and gates that would improve its safety.
As the 41 I-Team discovered, so did five other similar, rural crossings that also carry both freight and passenger trains.
MoDOT listed these needed improvements in a report released about four months before the crash.
When we went to check out those five crossings about a week after the crash, we found that none of those improvements had happened yet.
And a year later, it's still the same.
There are two crossings near Triplett, one near Bucklin, one near Norborne, and one near Hardin, Missouri.
Each crossing has the recognizable white "railroad crossing" crossbuck sign with either a stop sign or yield sign under it, but no lights or gates.
The Triplett crossings still need new crossing surfaces in addition to lights and gates.
However, there have been some baby steps.
Missouri Department of Transportation spokesperson Christopher Kelly says the Bucklin and Norborne sites had a site review in May. Preliminary engineering and a funding agreement with the railroad are next.
Kelly said the Triplett crossings are included in the Chariton County Study, which is under review.
Preliminary engineering on the Hardin site is done. Officials are working on a funding agreement with the railroad.
MoDOT told us last year that while the funding had already been identified for the improvements, they're looking at a three-to-five-year time-frame.
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