Barricade Unable to Stop Amtrak Train--but Rail Inspectors Get Indian’s Point

CENTRALIA, Ill. — A man tried to stop an Amtrak train by piling railroad ties on the tracks, then fired arrows at train inspectors who were investigating the incident, authorities said Friday.

The unidentified man was arrested Thursday just north of Centralia and was jailed pending a court appearance and a psychiatric evaluation, Marion County Sheriff Charles Sanders said.

Sanders said that the man, who appears to be in his 20s and says he is a Blackfoot Indian from El Paso, Tex., could not give his name because he suffered a throat injury as a child and cannot speak. He communicated only by hand gestures.

The sheriff said that the man had piled several railroad ties on Illinois Central Gulf Railroad tracks in an effort to stop an Amtrak train from Chicago.

“The train was doing about 90 miles an hour,” Sanders said. “But the engineer was able to spot (the ties) enough in advance” to brake the train, and it hit the barricade at about 30 m.p.h.

No one was injured, he said.

Railroad inspectors later found more ties piled on the tracks and the man still there, Sanders said. “He had a bow and arrow and had it pointed at them. He fired it off, and one (arrow) landed at the feet at one of the guys.”