In Wake of Amtrak Crash, Senate To Hold Grade Crossing Hearing

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Responding to last week’s collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a tractor trailer outside Chicago, the Senate Surface Transportation Subcommittee will hold a hearing March 25 on grade crossing safety.

Representatives of the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Association of American Railroads and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers are among the witnesses scheduled to testify at the hearing.

Eleven people were killed and more than 100 injured March 15 when Amtrak’s "City of New Orleans" crashed into a truck that allegedly swerved around grade crossing gates.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Jamie Finch said March 22 that investigators will complete their on-site work by mid-week. Finch said three witness to the crash have given potentially conflicting statements about whether the truck was on the tracks before warning signals and crossing gates. The truck driver, John R. Stokes, 58, has told investigators he did not see the southbound train as he approached the tracks. He said the gates and warning lights didn't activate until after he was on the tracks.