On March 15, 1999, Amtrak's southbound '' City of New Orleans''

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

collided with a semi-trailer truck in the village of Bourbonnais,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, United States. Most of the train derailed, killing eleven people. A

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

(NTSB) investigation into the accident attributed the cause to the truck driver trying to beat the train across a

grade crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

. The NTSB's recommendations from the accident included increased enforcement of grade crossing signals, the installation of train event recorders at all new or improved grade crossings, and procedures to provide emergency responders with accurate lists of all crew members and passengers aboard trains. The city of Bourbonnais erected a memorial near the site to commemorate those killed in the accident.

Accident

At approximately 9:47 pm Central (local) time on March 15, 1999, Amtrak's '' City of New Orleans'' number 59 was operating southbound through Bourbonnais, Illinois, on tracks owned by the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

, which folded into the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

in July of that year. It was pulled by two

GE P40DC General Electric Genesis (officially trademarked GENESIS) is a series of passenger diesel locomotives produced by GE Transportation, then a subsidiary of General Electric. Between 1992 and 2001, a total of 321 units were built for Amtrak, Metro- ...

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s, #807 leading and #829 trailing. 207 passengers and 21 crew members were on board at the time of the accident. While operating through Bourbonnais, the train's

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

observed a semi-trailer truck loaded with

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

slowly crossing the tracks at a grade crossing. When the engineer realized the truck was not going to clear the tracks in time, he engaged the train's emergency brake. However, the train was traveling at and was unable to stop in time. Both of the train's locomotives and eleven of the train's fourteen

passenger cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

derailed; the derailed cars struck freight cars on an adjacent

siding Siding may refer to: * Siding (construction), the outer covering or cladding of a house * Siding (rail) A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch l ...

. Eleven people aboard the train were killed and another 121 were transported to nearby hospitals with serious injuries. The driver of the semi-truck, John R. Stokes, was also injured. The crash also resulted in over

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

14 million in damage.

Investigations

NTSB investigation

The NTSB attributed the cause of the wreck to Stokes's reaction to the grade crossing signals. Thinking he could beat the train across the tracks, Stokes chose to proceed onto the tracks in front of the train. Stokes reported that the crossing signal did not activate until his vehicle was "right on top of the track," but he also stated that he did not want to brake quickly to avoid a shifting load that could hit the back of the truck's cab. Witnesses stated that the gates came down after the truck had entered the grade crossing. One witness stated that the gate clipped the truck's trailer and that part of the gate may have broken off as a result. The accident's fatalities were found in the third car from the engines, sleeper car 32035, due to warping of the coach, a piece of running rail piercing it, and fire damage. As a result of the accident, the NTSB made several recommendations: * To the highway maintainers: ** Review the effectiveness of current railroad grade crossing signals and the use of traffic division islands in deterring motorists from trying to drive around crossing gates. * To the

United States Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...

: ** Provide further grants and incentives to increase enforcement of grade crossing signals. * To the

United States Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

: ** Require the installation of event recorders to monitor gate position at new or improved grade crossings. * To the railroads: ** Initiate procedures to get accurate passenger and crew lists to emergency responders. ** Implement improved crew accountability procedures on reserved passenger trains. ** Install event recorders on all new or improved grade crossings.

Local civil and criminal investigations

The accident was also investigated by Illinois state and local agencies. Stokes had been convicted of numerous traffic violations in the past, and his trucking company, Melco Transfer Inc., had been cited for safety violations. Although the NTSB's investigation placed the fault of the collision on Stokes and his failure to yield at the grade crossing, the

Illinois State Police Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfor ...

concluded that the crossing lights were flashing, as expected, but the crossing gates were not functioning correctly and failed to be lowered until Stokes had already begun crossing the tracks. The

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorney ...

reviewed the case for criminal charges, but due to the conflicting agency reports, it was ultimately determined that the evidence would be insufficient to charge Stokes for the eleven deaths. "Stokes never faced more serious charges, such as

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...

, in the accident that also injured 122 people because prosecutors at the time did not believe they could meet the burden of proof," said a spokeswoman for the Illinois attorney general's office. Instead, prosecutors obtained a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

against Stokes in September 2001 for one count of willful violation of maximum driving time in violation of Illinois statute 625 ILCS 5/18b-108 (incorporating 49 C.F.R. 395.3) and willful violation of driver's record of duty in violation of Illinois statute 625 ILCS 5/18b-108 (incorporating 49 C.F.R. 395.8), both felonies. He was found guilty on both counts in August 2004. Stokes was sentenced on September 21, 2004, to two years in prison for logbook,

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

, and

hours of service Hours of Service (HOS) regulations are issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and govern the working hours of anyone operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in the United States. These regulations apply to truck dr ...

violations. At sentencing,

Kankakee County Kankakee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 113,449. Its county seat is Kankakee. Kankakee County comprises the Kankakee, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History St ...

Judge Clark Erickson stated that it was not proven if a lack of rest played a factor in the wreck but that he believed Stokes would have been more able to make safe driving decisions if he had been fully rested. Stokes was later found to have had multiple violations that required his attendance of traffic school five times in three different counties, which should have resulted in his license being suspended at the time of the wreck. He died in February 2007 from a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

Aftermath

Following the collision, the city of Bourbonnais erected a memorial to the deceased victims at the intersection of Highway 45 and 102, across from the Olivet Nazarene University campus. On January 17, 2006, the Village Board of Bourbonnais voted to permanently close the grade crossing where the accident occurred. A replacement crossing will be built at another location nearby that will, the Village Board hopes, prevent similar wrecks from occurring in the future. At least thirty-one civil cases were filed in various courts against parties involved in the wreck. In Illinois, the court placed the cause of the wreck squarely on Stokes, finding: Prior to one trial, Stokes and Melco settled with all the plaintiffs.

References