Two freight trains collided and derailed early Saturday in southeast Missouri, then triggered the collapse of a highway overpass when several rail cars struck a support pillar.Just as the Washington bridge collapse was triggered by a truck, this was triggered by a train. As you can see by the picture, there are cars in the middle of the bridge collapse. Fortunately, seven people were only injured. All were hospitalized and listed in fair condition.
Now, we don't know if the bridge was structurally deficient. Heavy train cars can do a lot of damage when they slam into something. That will be investigated. And we also don't know the condition of the rails as well. THAT will be investigated also. Remember, infrastructure is more than just bridges. It's the quality of the rails themselves as well.
"One train T-boned the other one and caused it to derail, and the derailed train hit a pillar which caused the overpass to collapse," Scott County Sheriff's dispatcher Clay Slipis told Reuters.The crash also caused a fire when diesel from one of the trains ignited.
One train was carrying auto parts from Illinois to Texas, and the other train was carrying scrap metal from salvage facilities and was heading south along the Missouri River.
The third one's coming. Let's pray that once again no lives are lost. Let's also pray that those in Congress--like the Teabaggers--see the light and actually pass a REAL infrastructure bill without taking the money from the poor to do it.