South MS community shaken after another train fatality. How common are these tragedies?

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South MS community shaken after another train fatality. How common are these tragedies?

Shaken and heartbroken after two recent

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, some leaders across the state and region say they are seeking safer crossings and want to better warn drivers of railroad dangers.

On the Coast, where a train hit and

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a driver last week, the Mississippi Department of Transportation is working with some cities to fix high crossings where trucks sometimes get stuck.

And in Stone County, where a train recently hit and

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from McHenry, local leaders want more crossing guards, said Board of Supervisors President Ronald Howard.

“One death,” he said, “is too many.”

The train in Stone County on Friday killed 30-year-old Charles Ladner, who Howard said was well-known and respected across the community. Stone County Coroner Wayne Flurry said last week that a witness saw Ladner’s pickup truck cross the tracks as a southbound train rolled forward.

Another driver hit by a train on Thursday in Gulfport was rushed to a Coast hospital in critical condition, then airlifted after police said the person apparently tried to cross the tracks before the train. Authorities had no updates this week on the person’s condition.

The collisions are the most recent of at least 17 times that trains have hit cars or trucks at Mississippi crossings already this year, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration. The crashes have led to at least three deaths.

Eight of this year’s crashes happened in South Mississippi, including the most recent in Gulfport and McHenry. Trains also

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that got stuck trying to drive over the same high crossing in Gulfport. A train last April in George County hit and injured a woman who drove over a crossing with no gates.

Federal Railroad Administration

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show a train hit an empty car in May at the Toulme Street crossing in Bay St. Louis. A train also hit a car stopped on the tracks and injured a driver one night last May in George County. Another report shows an Amtrak train hit but did not hurt a man who drove around a crossing gate last June in Picayune.

Sometimes, drivers in a hurry think they can beat a train, said Kimbler Sloan, the executive director of Mississippi Operation Lifesaver, which works to reduce collisions at crossings. People sometimes do not know that trains are moving faster than they seem, she said.

Josh Stubbs, director of aeronautics and rails at MDOT, said he understands why rushed drivers do not like waiting on trains. Some crossings in the state also lack gates that lower when a train is coming.

But Stubbs and Sloan could not explain why some drivers go around lowered gates.

A driver was critically injured Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, when a train collided with a vehicle at Lewis Avenue in Gulfport.

Push for safety

It is the second year in a row a Stone County resident has been killed by a train. Another Stone County man who drove over a crossing with no gates died near Wiggins last December, according to Howard and records from the Federal Railroad Administration.

Howard said the county will soon push for state and federal money that could pay for more crossing guards.

Crossings across the county have stop signs, and some have lights. But Howard said the crossing where Ladner died did not have gates.

He said the county has tried to get funding in the past but had little follow through from federal grant agencies or railroads. Now, “we’re open to negotiating and doing whatever we have to do,” he said. There should also be public meetings, he added, to spread the word about how to stay safe at railroad crossings.

Stubbs estimated MDOT has added 250 sets of lights and gates at crossings across the state over the past decade. He said Mississippi has over 2,000 public crossings and gets federal money each year for safety projects. “We spend almost all of it installing flashing lights and gates at railroad crossings,” Stubbs said.

MDOT

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where to add gates based on a crossing’s history of crashes, traffic, how many school buses cross the tracks each day, how busy the tracks are and how fast trains on them usually go.

****** history

Federal Railroad Administration records show the number of crashes in Mississippi has stayed mostly steady over the last five years: There are usually about 30 crashes annually. The rate in Mississippi is also not as dire as some states

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, which reported 246 crashes and 16 deaths in 2023.

But tragedy has hit here before. A freight train in 2017

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on a coach bus in Biloxi after it could not clear a high-grade crossing or evacuate its passengers in time. The National Transportation Safety Board later said lack of action from Biloxi and the rail company CSX to fix the crossing’s height probably caused the deadly collision. Sixteen crashes happened at the

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in the four decades before the bus tragedy.

Coast officials have said there are also sometimes near-misses across the region that go unreported because authorities alert trains in advance or pull cars and trucks from the tracks in time.

A train is stopped on the tracks in Biloxi after a pedestrian was struck Monday, April 29, 2024.

Driver safety

Suggs said drivers bear some responsibility to not be distracted by cell phones or think they can make it across lowered gates. MDOT and Operation Lifesaver also plead with drivers to remember:

Never race a train to a crossing.

The train is probably closer and faster than it seems.

It cannot stop right away.

Suggs also said any driver stuck on the tracks should first call the 800 number on a

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. The number puts drivers through to the railroad company, which can try to stop the train early and avert disaster.

MDOT is also working in Long Beach to even the grade at high crossings, and said it hopes to soon expand the project to Pass Christian. The U.S. Department of Transportation also recently awarded Mississippi nearly $60,000 to improve railroads and crossing safety. Suggs said MDOT is focusing much of its rail safety work on the Coast, which has dozens of crossings, heavy train traffic and a growing population.

Stone County is still mourning.

“It’s just a terrible tragedy,” Howard said. “We’re all still in shock.”

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#South #community #shaken #train #fatality #common #tragedies

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