Missouri budgets $50M for railroad crossings in response to fatal 2022 Amtrak derailment

By SUMMER BALLENTINE
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri plans to spend $50 million on railroad crossing improvements in response to a 2022 fatal Amtrak derailment. Gov. Mike Parson and state transportation officials on Thursday outlined options for how to spend about $19 million of that, including improvements at 27 crossings and closure of 17 others. The site of last year’s crash is among those recommended to be shuttered. The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that poor design contributed to last year’s derailment, which killed four people and injured 146 others. Before the crash, area residents had expressed concerns for nearly three years about the safety of the crossing.