One injured in overnight vehicle-train crash west of Barry
An 18-year-old Barry-area driver was airlifted to Springfield after a Norfolk Southern train struck his vehicle at Highway 106.
A vehicle-train crash west of Barry left one person injured overnight at a railroad crossing on Route 106, drawing Barry Fire Department, Pike County ambulance and Pike County sheriff’s deputies to the scene.
WLDS first reported the collision on May 23, saying only that the crash involved a vehicle and a train at a crossing west of Barry and that initial reports indicated one injury. Later reporting identified the injured person as an 18-year-old man who was airlifted to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield and remained in critical condition.
That later update said the collision happened on May 22, and that the vehicle was struck by a Norfolk Southern train traveling westbound at Highway 106 about 2.5 miles east of Barry. WLDS also reported that the injured man may have been a recent high school graduate from Pike County, although that identification was tentative in the first hours after the crash.
Officials had not immediately said whether warning lights or crossing signals were functioning at the time, or whether visibility, weather or another factor played a role. They also did not say how long Route 106 was affected overnight, leaving open the full extent of any disruption along the rural roadway west of Barry.
The crash is another reminder of how quickly danger can build at highway-rail crossings in rural Morgan County and neighboring Pike County, where local traffic, school travel and freight trains can meet on narrow corridors with little room for error. The Illinois Commerce Commission says Illinois recorded 134 highway-rail collisions in 2025, leaving 34 people dead and 27 seriously injured. State data also shows Illinois has about 7,300 miles of track and 7,482 public highway-rail crossings, plus 3,280 private crossings.
The commission says the six-county Chicago region accounts for about 73% of the state’s train-vehicle collision risk when train and traffic volumes are measured, but the Barry crash shows that serious injuries can happen far from the metro area. In a rural setting, one overnight collision can quickly become a major emergency for families, first responders and drivers who rely on Route 106 every day.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
