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6/29/2023
Missouri's state government has allocated $83.5 million in grade crossing safety funding for fiscal-year 2024 following a deadly June 2022 Amtrak derailment in Mendon, Missouri.
The funds are a combination of dedicated taxes, federal dollars and a one-time expenditure of general funds, reported KSHB Kansas City. The bulk of the funding — $50 million requested by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) — comes from the state’s general revenue fund for FY2024.
Those dollars are in addition to the annual $1.5 million generated through a 25-cent tax on all motor-vehicle registrations and renewals, which goes directly into a grade crossing safety fund. The tax was designed to pay for safety improvements at 25 crossings every year.
The $83.5 million is more than 11 times the typical state budget investment of $7.5 million, which is estimated to pay for about 19 projects per year. With 21 projects completed this fiscal year, MoDOT completed just six projects in FY2021, 22 in FY2020, 21 in FY2019 and 25 in FY2018.
The department hopes to complete 22 projects in FY2023 and FY2024, but it’s unclear whether any of the planned projects will take place at the crossing where an Amtrak Southwest Chief train collided with a dump truck, causing the derailment that killed four and injured dozens of riders.
The four deaths included the truck driver and three Amtrak passengers. The damage caused is estimated to be worth $4 million, according to Amtrak and BNSF Railway Co., which owns the line. The crossing was equipped with cross bucks and a stop sign, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
There are 6,564 grade crossings and about 5,300 miles of track throughout Missouri. About half of the crossings are passive, marked with signs but lacking active warning devices, KSHB reported. Twelve people died in vehicle-train collisions in 2022.