Unidentified man dies Friday when struck by Carl Sandburg train headed to Quincy

UPDATE: Adams County Coroner Scott Graham issued a press release at 4:45 p.m. Saturday identifying the man who was killed as Flint C. Reed of Camp Point.

CAMP POINT, Ill. — An unidentified man died at about noon Friday in Camp Point when he was struck by an Amtrak train traveling from Chicago to Quincy.

A person was trespassing on BNSF railroad tracks when the Carl Sandburg train, which runs daily from Chicago, hit him. Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari said passengers and crew aboard the train reported no injuries. Magliari said Amtrak is working with state and local authorities to investigate the incident, including the Adams County coroner and the Camp Point Police Department.

Pat Frazier, a deputy chief with the Adams County Sheriff’s Department, said deputies responded at 11:59 a.m. to a pedestrian-train crash in Camp Point at Ohio Street between State and Jefferson. He said Friday afternoon investigators were not at a point where they could release the man’s identity.

Frazier said witnesses at the scene claimed the crossing arms and lights were operational at the site of the crash.

“I would assume there’s equipment on the train that they can check to monitor speed or see what the signals were in that area,” Frazier said. “They have all that information on computer.”

Frazier said chartered or private transportation transferred 16 people on the Carl Sandburg — a combination of passengers and crew members — to Quincy. The train eventually continued its eastward route after a two-hour delay.

“Incidents like this one can affect everyone involved — those who are injured or die and their families, our train crews and our passengers,” Magliari said in a press release. “They also serve as critical reminders about the importance of obeying the law and of exercising extreme caution around railroad tracks and crossings.”

Magliari said anyone unauthorized to be on railroad property, including using the tracks as a “short-cut” or not heeding the warnings of an approaching train, is trespassing because they are on the property without a lawful reason to do so. Amtrak reports similar incidents to federal and state rail safety regulators, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Magliari said Amtrak continues to work closely with Operation Lifesaver to stop track tragedies by emphasizing the dangers of being on railroad property or disregarding warnings at rail crossings. For more railroad safety information, visit StayOffTheTracks.org.