Man Gets Pickup Stuck While Driving In Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Railroad Tunnel

Rangers Dan Sweeney and Sean Beasley were on patrol last Tuesday when they received word that an unauthorized vehicle was on the train tracks that run through the park. A white Chevrolet Pickup was in the south tunnel facing southbound on the railroad tracks. The truck appeared to be wedged between the tracks and the wall of the south tunnel.

The driver appeared intoxicated and was taken into custody and moved away from the tracks. He was subsequently transferred to St. Louis Metropolitan Police custody.

The track is under the jurisdiction of the Terminal Railroad Association and is an active track, carrying both Amtrak passenger trains and freight trains from a number of other rail lines. Terminal Railroad engineers checked the tracks through the tunnel and discovered damage to multiple railroad control boxes.

The railroad tracks are elevated along the Saint Louis riverfront. The nearest street-level crossing is at Biddle and North First Street, over a mile away. It appears that the driver drove onto the tracks and was able to negotiate his way along the tracks before becoming stuck in the tunnel on the Arch grounds.

At report time, Terminal Railroad Engineers were still working on removing the vehicle. They believed they had to bring a unit with a crane and a flatbed on at Biddle Street and drive down and extract the truck.