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As federal safety investigators work to determine the factors that contributed to this week’s deadly collision between a train and a dump truck in Missouri, dueling lawsuits filed by Amtrak and BNSF Railway and by the truck driver’s widow are seeking liability and damages in federal and state courts.
Amtrak, which operated the train Monday when three passengers were killed and more than 100 injured, and BNSF, which owns the tracks, sued MS Contracting on Thursday, accusing the company and its deceased driver Billy Dean Barton II of being “negligent, negligent and reckless.” , driving a 2007 Kenworth dump truck hauling rock for the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Despite “clearly seeing the approaching Amtrak 4 train, Barton failed to yield the right-of-way … and instead attempted to cross the crossing, resulting in a collision,” according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Missouri.
But a lawsuit filed by Erin Barton, the truck driver’s widow, claims BNSF and Chariton County, where the collision occurred, were negligent.
“BNSF was actually alerted by concerned citizens to the extremely dangerous nature of the crossing; however, sat on his hands and failed to ensure that the crossing was in proper condition or had active warnings in place to prevent this horrific accident,” according to the lawsuit filed this week in Chariton County Circuit Court.
The death toll in the railroad derailment is rising as the investigation begins
The suit also alleges that the county was negligent in designing and maintaining the road leading to the intersection and that the road did not follow engineering standards for such intersections.
“Physical defects in the road made it unsafe and dangerous,” according to the suit. It cited “slanted approaches, brush, trees and vegetation blocking full view of approaching trains in some quadrants, and seasonal crops in surrounding fields that would further block the driver’s view.”
BNSF, county officials and Amtrak declined to comment. MS Contracting did not return calls for comment.
Stephen Groves, who represents the Barton family, said Billy Dean Barton was right.
“That level crossing was a trap,” Groves said. “There’s literally no way you can use it safely for someone driving a truck like that when a 90 mph train comes down the track like it did.”
The speed limit on that stretch of track near Mendon was 90 mph. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that the Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago was traveling at 87 miles per hour.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were about 2,148 railroad crossing accidents in the country last year, killing 236 people and injuring 662.
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