Photos show mangled metal mess after freight train crashes into ATV in Missouri

A BNSF freight train passing through Mendon, Missouri on Monday morning crashed into an ATV stuck on the track, creating a fiery and mangled mess.

The Missouri State Police said the incident happened at about 8:40 a.m. where the tracks cross Mike Road, just north of Mendon in Cheriton County.

There were no reported injuries, police said, and the cargo load was not damaged.

Police added, as photos show, the train engine sustained some damage, while the ATV was significantly damaged.

In fact, images posted by police showed black soot covering the front of the engine, and in front of the train was a mangled ball of metal with wheel hubs and roll bars barely intact.

The BNSF train was on rails shared with Amtrak, and potential delays were expected on Monday because of the crash.

The crash happened in the same stretch of rails through Mendon where a deadly train crash occurred a little more than a year ago.

In June 2022, an Amtrak train struck a dump truck before the locomotive flipped onto its side, killing four people and injuring more than 140 others.

The derailment happened just before 12:45 p.m. and the train was traveling to Chicago, Illinois from Los Angeles, California.

A dump truck carrying material to a nearby Army Corps of Engineers project was struck in the back by the train, compromising two locomotives, six coach cars and separate cars for a café and baggage.

The crash happened at a passive crossing, which lacked gates, bells and warning lights like an active crossing. Instead, the crossing had a stop sign.

Over the years, the NTSB has recommended the closure of certain crossings or the conversion from passive to active.

In 1998, the agency made recommendations about technology that could alert drivers of the presence of a train when approaching a grade crossing.

FOX 4 in Kansas City said after the Amtrak crash, state lawmakers approved $50 million in state funding to make updates to railroad crossings.

The station added that the Missouri Department of Transportation has plans to close or update 47 passive public rail crossings across the state.