HIGHWAY-RAILROAD ACCIDENT REPORT: WATERLOO, NEBRASKA, PUBLIC SCHOOL BUS UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY FREIGHT TRAIN ACCIDENT WATERLOO, NEBRASKA OCTOBER 2, 1967

At 8:10 A.M. on October 2, 1967, a school bus carrying 13 children to school, traveling east on County Road 29, near Waterloo, Nebraska, was driven across an unprotected highway grade crossing and was struck by a westbound Union Pacific Railroad freight train traveling at 56 m.p.h. The locomotive struck and held the right rear quarter of the bus dragging it backward, and then deflected it into a communications pole. The rear of the bus body was disintegrated. Four of the children on the bus were killed and the other nine injured. There were no other fatalities or injuries in the accident. The probable cause of the accident was the failure of the school bus driver to ascertain that there was a train approaching the grade crossing and to hold his vehicle until the way was safe for passage.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1968-9

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: 51 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash investigation; Crash reports; Fatalities; Railroad grade crossings; Traffic crashes
• Old TRIS Terms: Grade crossing accidents
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00071839
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Transportation Safety Board
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 20 1976 12:00AM