Train kills woman who was seated on tracks

A Union Pacific freight train struck and kil led a woman who had been seated on the tracks near Knob Noster, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol reports.

Alanna D. Close, 31, who lived on Whiteman Air Force base, died about 9 p.m. Thursday, troopers reported.
Lt. Matt Miller, a spokesman for Whiteman, said Close was a staff sergeant who supervised the mobility warehouse supplies. She had children, he said.

Engineers sounded emergency horns and whistles and activated the emergency brake after seeing the woman sitting on the railroad tracks. Michael P. Edmondson, 48, of Olathe, Kan., was the train engineer.

Officials said they are unsure why Close was sitting on the tracks. Johnson County Coroner C.L. Holdren ordered toxicology tests and an autopsy was performed Friday.

Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific Railroad, said the train, with three locomotives and 104 empty coal cars, was traveling from Kentucky to Colorado.

Naturally, this is a very difficult situation,” Davis said. “Our hearts go out to, not only the family, but the friends of the person.”
Two people, an engineer and conductor, were on the train, Davis said. It can take a train up to a mile and a half to stop, he said.

“It’s real tough on them,” he said. “They’re helpless because they know they can’t stop. It’s a real traumatic experience for them.”

The crew will receive peer support counseling, Davis said.

The accident happened near U.S. 50, about 400 feet east of County Road NE 641.