After deadly train crashes, MoDOT report urges $18.5 million in railroad crossing upgrades

The independent report from the Missouri Department of Transportation lays out safety improvements to the state’s three passenger rail lines. They come a little more than one year after a train-truck crash killed four people outside Kansas City.
The Missouri Department of Transportation on Thursday unveiled an independent report containing millions of dollars in recommendations to improve railroad crossings in the state.

Changes listed include upgrades like lights and gates to existing crossings, changing the ownership from public to private, as well as closing or consolidating crossings.

The release of the report comes a little more than one year after an Amtrak train collided with a dump truck near Mendon, causing the train to derail. Four people died in the accident.